Using spoor counts to analyse the effect of small stock farming in Namibia on caracal density in the neighbouring Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

A spoor count was done to determine whether caracal spoor densities in the vicinity of the border of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park differed from those in the interior of the Park. The objective was to compare caracal densities close to the agricultural land with those deeper in a national park. Two long-distance transects, one along the Namibian border and one diverging from the Namibian border into the interior of the Park, were surveyed on a monthly basis. Spoor density, discrete track set distances and orientation of spoor to the road were recorded and analysed to establish use patterns for three distinct zones in the Park. The hypothesis tested was that increased spoor counts along the border should result from an attraction to the adjacent agricultural (cattle and sheep production) land. It is shown that caracals avoid the areas near the Namibian border during the hot season but increased their utilization in this region in the cold season. This implies that under conditions of low prey availability (cold season) caracals may move to the border and cross onto agricultural land to prey on small livestock, there

Possible optimal foraging for Brants’s whistling rats by caracals in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

Optimal foraging in caracals has never been substantiated. However, several authors have found that these predators select foraging paths to minimize distances between areas of high prey availability. The foraging pattern used by a predator relative to a common prey animal can give an insight into the optimality of hunting behaviour. Foraging behaviour in caracals relative to the dispersion of Brants’s whistling rat colonies was investigated in the southern Kalahari. We show that foraging paths used by caracal during the hot season increase the likelihood of encountering colonies, suggesting that optimal foraging occurs, but that in the cold season foraging appears to be random.Keywords: caracal, optimal foraging, Brants’s whistling rat, Kalahar