Browsing by Author "Mbise, Franco P."

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Attacks on humans and retaliatory killing of wild carnivores in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania
    (Academic Journals, 2021) Mbise, Franco P.
    Attacks on humans by wild carnivores are a serious problem, especially where communities and carnivores share the same landscape. When people are injured or killed, community members commonly retaliate by killing the carnivores. Awareness of how to minimize the risk of attacks is important and dependent on an understanding of the circumstances surrounding previous attacks and communicating them back to society. A total of 180 households were randomly selected from both the Maasai and Sonjo tribes. Findings from this study are based on the reported incidences among the Maasai and the Sonjo tribes living in the eastern Serengeti. Because the Maasai tribe lives close to the Serengeti National Park, they reported a higher frequency of human attacks than the Sonjo tribe over the last 50 years. Most of the human attacks occurred in the wet season during the daytime while herding livestock. Young males from both tribes responsible for herding livestock were more vulnerable to attack by wild carnivores. Lions (Panthera leo) were responsible for most of the reported human attacks, followed by leopards (Panthera pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta). Currently, the trend in human attacks by carnivores is decreasing in both tribes. It was also established that in many incidences, carnivores escaped after attacking humans. Retaliatory killings for lions were most common among the Maasai, while retaliatory killings for hyenas were most common among the Sonjo. Factors associated with these retaliatory killings were as follows: both lions and hyenas feeding on a carcass, lions being fearless of humans, hyenas being frequently seen, and hyena’s tendency to run and look back. These findings provide insight into the circumstances surrounding human attacks in the eastern Serengeti and the fate of these carnivores.
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    Awareness of urban communities on biodiversity conservation in Tanzania’s protected areas
    (Elsevier, 2022) Ulimboka, Rehema; Mbise, Franco P.; Nyahongo, Julius; Røskaft, Eivin
    This study used semi-structured interviews in two cities, Dodoma and Arusha, in Tanzania, to assess the difference in people’s conservation awareness between the two cities. Our results revealed that urban people were generally positive towards most statements related to biodiversity conservation in protected areas, and in a few cases, variations between people from different occupations and education levels were significant. For instance, 87% (n = 376) of our respondents agreed with the statement "The knowledge obtained through conservation education is very important in changing our attitude towards protected areas," as well as 71% (n = 376) of our respondents agreed with the statement that "It is important to involve school children in conservation education." We predicted that people in Arusha would be more positive toward all six conservation statements than people in Dodoma (the capital city) because Arusha is close to many protected areas and is a tourist hub. We also predicted that people in Arusha would have more knowledge and awareness of biodiversity conservation than those in Dodoma. However, this prediction was not supported as people from Dodoma were significantly more positive than people from Arusha. This indicates that people in Dodoma are more concerned about biodiversity conservation than people in Arusha. This variation might be influenced by the costs associated with conservation, as people in urban Dodoma live far from conservation challenges such as livestock depredation and/or crop raiding compared to people in urban Arusha.
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    Awareness of urban communities on biodiversity conservation in Tanzania’s protected areas.
    (Elsevier, 2022) Ulimboka, Rehema; Mbise, Franco P.; Nyahongo, Julius; Røskaft, Eivin
    This study used semi-structured interviews in two cities, Dodoma and Arusha, in Tanzania, to assess the difference in people’s conservation awareness between the two cities. Our results revealed that urban people were generally positive towards most statements related to biodiversity conservation in protected areas, and in a few cases, variations between people from different occupations and education levels were significant. For instance, 87% (n = 376) of our respondents agreed with the statement "The knowledge obtained through conservation education is very important in changing our attitude towards protected areas," as well as 71% (n = 376) of our respondents agreed with the statement that "It is important to involve school children in conservation education." We predicted that people in Arusha would be more positive toward all six conservation statements than people in Dodoma (the capital city) because Arusha is close to many protected areas and is a tourist hub. We also predicted that people in Arusha would have more knowledge and awareness of biodiversity conservation than those in Dodoma. However, this prediction was not supported as people from Dodoma were significantly more positive than people from Arusha. This indicates that people in Dodoma are more concerned about biodiversity conservation than people in Arusha. This variation might be influenced by the costs associated with conservation, as people in urban Dodoma live far from conservation challenges such as livestock depredation and/or crop raiding compared to people in urban Arusha.
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    Can conservation incentives promote willingness to coexist with large carnivores in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem?
    (Academic Journals, 2021) Mbise, Franco P.; Røskaft, Eivin
    Communities living adjacent to protected areas tend to express more willingness to coexist with large carnivores in their areas when they receive tangible benefits. The aim of this study was to explore people’s willingness to coexist with large carnivores, including lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta), African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) and black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas schmidti). The authors used a pre-test and post-test approach by implementing a chemoprophylactic program as a conservation incentive among the Maasai and Sonjo tribes living in the eastern Serengeti, Tanzania. Chemoprophylaxis is the prevention of infectious disease by using chemical agents. The pre-test results showed that both tribes had low willingness to coexist with these large carnivores. Of the two tribes, the Sonjo tribe was less willing than the Maasai tribe. Our post-test results indicated an increase in willingness to coexist with large carnivores in their area because the livestock loss due to large carnivore depredation was significantly lower than that caused by diseases in both tribes. Therefore, this study calls for more conservation incentives to local people to promote their willingness to coexist with large carnivores in their areas.
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    Can enhanced awareness change local school children’s knowledge of carnivores in northern Tanzania?
    (Taylor & Francis, 2016) Lyamuya, Richard D.; Straube, Anne Cathrine Strande; Guttu, Ane M.; Masenga, Emmanuel H.; Mbise, Franco P.; Fyumagwa, Robert D.; Stokke, Bård G.; Jackson, Craig R.; Røskaft, Eivin
    We used a four-day program with a pre-test–post-test approach on 355 selected school children to investigate the influence of a wildlife education project on the acquisition of knowledge about large carnivores in Loliondo, Tanzania. After the school program was completed, a significantly higher number of school children correctly identified six carnivore species, compared to when the same identification task was administered prior to the initiation of the school program. This increased knowledge is important for the conservation of large carnivores in general and of African wild dogs, in particular, because the post-test results showed that most school children considered wild dogs to be an important part of the ecosystem. In areas experiencing human– carnivore conflict, it is important to include conservation education programs in school curricula as early as possible to enable students to gain knowledge of large carnivores and their role in ecosystems.
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    Community spatial distance and educational determinants of how local people appreciate conservation benefits around Tarangire and Saadani National Parks, Tanzania
    (Elsevier, 2021) Mbise, Franco P.; Ranke, Peter S.; Røskaft, Eivin
    The understanding of how educational and spatial factors influence appreciation of conservation benefits to locals living adjacent to protected areas is a very important aspect in conservation initiatives. In this study we compared how educational and spatial factors affect the appreciation of conservation benefits to local communities adjoining the two Tanzanian national parks; Tarangire National Park (TNP) and Saadani National Park (SANAPA). Questionnaire surveys including closed-ended questions were conducted in eight villages, four near each of the two parks. A total of 400 randomly selected households were interviewed (50 in each village). Results from these questionnaires showed that the local people’s appreciation of benefits was negatively related to increasing distance from the parks boundaries. Moreover, people with secondary education or higher, appreciated to receive more benefits than those with primary and tended to appreciate benefits more often than those with no formal education. In addition, people living around TNP responded that the park itself benefited more in terms of benefits from tourism compared to communities surrounding SANAPA. The underlying mechanisms for establishing strong relationships, e.g., by initiating conservation benefits close to national parks, is key to improve views on conservation practices from local people surrounding national parks.
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    A dead giveaway: foraging vultures and other avian scavengers respond to auditory cues
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2020) Jackson, Craig R.; Maddox, Thomas; Mbise, Franco P.; Stokke, Bård G.; Belant, Jerrold L.; Bevanger, Kjetil; Durant, Sarah M.; Fyumagwa, Robert; Ranke, Peter S.; Røskaft, Eivin; May, Roel; Fossøy, Frode
    Carrion represents an unpredictable and widely distributed primary food source for vultures and other avian scavengers. Avian scavengers in African savanna ecosystems are reported to rely exclusively on visual stimuli to locate carcasses. However, carnivores’ predation of large mammalian herbivores and subsequent competition for access to the carcass can result in considerable noise, often audible over long distances and for prolonged periods. Vultures and other avian scavengers may therefore detect and respond to these auditory cues, as do the mammalian carnivores alongside which vultures have coevolved, but this has not been investigated to date. Working in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania, we used diurnal auditory broadcasts to simulate predation and competitive carnivore feeding interactions. Based on the current understanding of avian scavenger ecology, we hypothesized that avian responses to call‐in stations would be evoked exclusively by visual, rather than auditory, cues. We therefore predicted that (a) the arrival of avian scavengers at call‐in stations should be preceded and facilitated by mammalian carnivores and that (b) the arrival of avian scavengers would be positively correlated with the number of mammalian scavengers present, which would increase detectability. We recorded 482 birds during 122 separate playback events. In 22% of these instances, avian scavengers arrived first, ruling out responses based exclusively on visual observations of mammalian carnivores, thereby contradicting our first prediction. Furthermore, the first avian arrivals at survey sessions were inversely related to the number of hyenas and jackals present, contradicting our second prediction. Since no bait or carcasses were used during the experiments, these responses are indicative of the birds’ ability to detect and respond to audio stimuli. Our findings challenge the current consensus of sensory perception and foraging in these species and provide evidence that avian scavengers have the ability to use sound to locate food resources.
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    Do carnivore surveys match reports of carnivore presence by pastoralists? a case of the eastern Serengeti ecosystem
    (2020) Mbise, Franco P.; Jackson, Craig R.; Lyamuya, Richard; Fyumagwa, Robert; Ranke, Peter S.; Røskaft, Eivin
    Human-carnivore encounters are common where humans and wild carnivores share the same landscape. The frequency of such encounters gives insight regarding carnivore density and might correlate with human-carnivore conflict incidences. We interviewed livestock owners in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem and recorded reported carnivore presence and relative abundance. We simultaneously conducted a carnivore survey to assess the potential variability of reported carnivore presence that was recorded during the surveys. The playback surveys attracted 9 lions (Panthera leo), 88 spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and 47 black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas schmidti) to 12 call-in stations which were resurveyed three times (36 playbacks in total). Reported encounters with lions, leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyenas, African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) and jackals were higher closer to the Serengeti National Park (SNP). Data from carnivore surveys were positively correlated with what people reported in questionnaires. These results indicate that local reports of encounters with wild carnivores may act as an important indicator of carnivore presence. Combining observational data through surveys with data reported by local people in areas where humans and wild carnivores coexist may improve existing data on carnivore abundance and distribution in such areas.
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    Human habituation reduces hyrax flight initiation distance in Serengeti
    (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2019) Mbise, Franco P.; Fredriksen, Kari-Elise; Ranke, Peter S.; Jackson, Craig; Fyumagwa, Robert; Holmern, Tomas; Fossøy, Frode; Røskaft, Eivin
    Many animal populations are exposed to disturbance originating from human ac‐ tivities. In response to human disturbance, certain animals display a variety of po‐ tentially costly behavioural responses, such as increased antipredator behaviour or relocation to new areas. In contrast, other animals seemingly thrive in the presence of humans and benefit from human‐derived resources. Flight initiation distance (FID: the distance between predator and prey when prey starts to flee) is a measure com‐ monly used to assess animals’ tolerance to humans. In this study, we tested how FID changes in relation to human presence in two hyrax species in Serengeti National Park. Hyraxes living on kopjes (rock outcrops) among human settlements showed a significantly shorter FID than hyraxes living on kopjes without human settlements. In addition, we found that hyraxes feeding before the experiment had shorter FID than hyraxes resting or being vigilant, and hyraxes disturbed during the early morn‐ ing had shorter FID than hyraxes disturbed during late morning. We did not find any significant effects of group size or species composition on FID. Our results suggest that hyraxes living in the presence of humans are habituated and are not adversely affected by human settlements