Namibia is one of few African countries that support six species of large carnivore. Lions, leopards, cheetahs, spotted hyaenas, brown hyaenas and wild dogs occur in relatively stable and healthy populations. These carnivores are however, in constant conflict with the Namibian people. With the exception of brown hyenas, they are formidable predators that often prey on domestic live stock. With a fast growing human population and resulting pressure on natural resources the future of large carnivores depends on sound conservation practices that address this conflict.
Maintaining a long-term monitoring system is essential to detect changes in population demography and to identify management problems, such as increased conflict between large carnivores and people.
It is alarming that despite much focus on large carnivores in the past, fundamental data on species composition, distribution and density is lacking. A good scientific understanding of the distribution, numbers, age and sex structure, and general well being of these animals is essential in order to develop sound solutions to the conflict with people. Monitoring systems need to be developed and implemented to regularly assess the carnivore populations.
This project, the Large Carnivore Atlas of Namibia will establish baseline bio-diversity information that will aid all relevant conservation organisations and the Government of Namibia to develop and implement effective conservation strategies, and formulate appropriate policies. The baseline information will also be crucial to all conservancies and farmers in developing tourism and sustainable trophy hunting enterprises. Once baseline data on large carnivore populations are in place then systems, such as eco-tourism can be implemented, where people can benefit from the large carnivore species that live in their area therefore increasing the tolerance and acceptance of people towards these animals. By increasing people’s tolerance of large carnivores on their land we can actually create suitable habitat. In ideal situations large carnivores, traditionally a threat and a burden could become an asset.
The Large Carnivore Atlas depends on the tourism industry, conservancies, farmers, Government employees, and all other interested parties for reporting observations of large carnivores. In collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) a communication network has been established where attractive, icon based data forms, are being distributed to all relevant parties. Completed forms are returned to PCT Namibia in Windhoek. Observation data is then entered on a specially developed database on a computer designated only for atlas data management. The data are analysed bi-annually and presented in a report. The report gives a summary of a) all the individuals that submitted observations; b) age and sex structure of each species of carnivore; c) the deferent habitats where carnivores were observed; and d) a distribution map for each species. These reports are then distributed widely and especially to those individuals that submitted observations. The maintenance of regular and detailed communication with all the involved parties is seen as an essential element to the success of this nation-wide large carnivore survey.
The forms also allow details of any collars or brand marks on the animal to be recorded. This allows information to be built up about the movements of individual animals. All Etosha lions are branded and are listed in a database with info such as their age and where they were branded, so recording sightings can help build up an accurate picture of the movements of the lions, including where they move out of the park. Lions are the only carnivores to be branded, and the brand mark acts as a permanent visual identifier.
An Etosha lion with the brand mark visible on its shoulder
Predator Conservation Trust in the UK have supported this project for several years and continue to do so by making available copies of the reports for people around the world to access, and by providing online copies of the forms that can be downloaded by tourists planning trips to Namibia, as well as an online data submission facility to allow people to report their sightings online - which can be far more convenient than the old paper form based system.
In the past, participation to submit details of sightings for inclusion in the Atlas projects database was limited to people who were able to obtain paper copies of the Atlas data forms. While these were available at a number of locations, including the rest camp offices in Etosha, supplies were not always available, and so many visitors to Namibia missed out on the opportunity to contribute to this project. For this reason it has been decided to introduce a new method of submitting data. As well as the paper forms which will continue to be available and widely used an online form has been used so people with Internet access can use the form on this website to submit details of sightings electronically. We have also provided a downloadable version of the atlas form that people can download and print out - it is hoped that these two methods will increase the number of people who are able to contribute to the Namibian Large carnivore Atlas project. Note that the online forms have now been withdrawn due to the cessation of the Large Carnivore Atlas project.
An information poster on the carnivore atlas is now available. It contains instructions on how to correctly record carnivore observations onto the atlas forms, a carnivore key with icons, scientific name, and the common species name translated into six Namibian languages, and a map of Namibia with colour tags showing the main focus areas of the atlas.
To view the poster click here (pdf format)
We are in the process of developing a one-day long training course for the Carnivore Atlas which will include the following:
Background on the Atlas
The Atlas as a monitoring system for large carnivores
Recording observations on Atlas forms
Identifying spoor of large carnivores
GPS (Global Positioning System) training
The course is aimed at conservancies and parks in order to get more information
on large carnivores from these areas as many of the people living and working
there are already active in monitoring of wildlife.
An information poster has been designed specifically for the training course and
will be available to all course participants as well as other interested
parties.
The latest report of the Namibia Large Carnivore Atlas is now available. A
further 229 observations have been added to the database bring the total number
of observations to 5410 including 11 436 individual carnivores.
Results from 1999 to 2004 are as follows:
Total number of observations for each species
Lion |
1788 |
Leopard |
939 |
Cheetah |
701 |
Wild Dog |
91 |
Spotted Hyena |
1076 |
Brown Hyena |
1007 |
The sex ratio ratios of the six large carnivores (Ratio of one female to x number of males):
The age structure of the six large carnivores
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Different habitats where carnivores were observed
Habitat |
Cheetah |
Leopard |
Lion |
Spotted Hyena |
Brown Hyena |
Wild dog |
Woodlands |
19% |
20% |
23% |
19% |
11% |
51% |
Plains |
43% |
22% |
9% |
37% |
2% |
5% |
Waterholes |
4% |
18% |
28% |
24% |
4% |
27% |
Dry river beds |
9% |
9% |
11% |
7% |
5% |
2% |
Mountains |
6% |
16% |
16% |
3% |
4% |
0% |
Coastal areas |
0% |
0.2% |
1% |
1% |
66% |
0% |
Other habitats |
19% |
15% |
12% |
9% |
8% |
15% |
Sample size (n) |
746 |
927 |
1794 |
1082 |
1074 |
94 |
Click here for the July 2004 Carnivore Atlas report in pdf format (790k file) Warning - can be slow to open/download.
For earlier reports, please visit the library section of our site.
© Predator Conservation Trust.
