Nest-site selection, nesting behaviour and spatial ecology of female Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in South Africa

Combrink, Xander; Warner, Jonathan K.; Downs, Colleen T.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2016.12.006

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Similarly, in the USA, limited data suggest elevated testosterone levels in the early breeding season (February–March) that decline sharply over summer (Hamlin et al, 2011). Moreover, for Nile crocodiles, nest-guarding in most regions occurs in the hottest months, meaning many of the larger adult females are not hunting and remain on or near their nests, reducing the likelihood of attacks by these animals (Pooley et al, 1992; Kofron, 1990; Combrink et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using environmental niche modelling to investigate abiotic predictors of crocodilian attacks on people

Powell

Versluys

Williams

et al. 2020

Oryx

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Crocodilians are distributed widely through the tropics and subtropics, and several species pose a substantial threat to human life. This has important implications for human safety and crocodilian conservation. Understanding the drivers of crocodilian attacks on people could help minimize future attacks and inform conflict management. Crocodilian attacks follow a seasonal pattern in many regions, but there has been limited analysis of the relationship between attack occurrence and fine-scale contemporaneous environmental conditions. We use methods from environmental niche modelling to explore the relationships between attacks on people and abiotic predictors at a daily temporal resolution for the Nile crocodile Crocodylus niloticus in South Africa and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and the American alligator Alligator mississippiensis in Florida, USA. Our results indicate that ambient daily temperature is the most important abiotic temporal predictor of attack occurrence for both species, with attack likelihood increasing markedly when mean daily temperatures exceed 18 °C and peaking at 28 °C. It is likely that this relationship is explained partially by human propensity to spend time in and around water in warmer weather but also by the effect of temperature on crocodilian hunting behaviour and physiology, especially the ability to digest food. We discuss the potential of our findings to contribute to the management of crocodilians, with benefits for both human safety and conservation, and the application of environmental niche modelling for understanding human–wildlife conflicts involving both ectotherms and endotherms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using environmental niche modelling to investigate abiotic predictors of crocodilian attacks on people

Powell

Versluys

Williams

et al. 2020

Oryx

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“…Nesting-site selection is a common behaviour among turtles (Hays et al, 1995), lizards (Trauth, 1983;Warner and Shine, 2008), crocodiles (Combrink et al, 2017), and birds (Clark and Shutler, 1999). In all cases, female choses the most suitable soil to lay its eggs, and often exploiting the surrounding resources in order to increase the chance of the reproduction success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational approach to evaluating the strength of eggs: Implications for laying in organic egg production

Sellés

Marcé‐Nogué

Vila

et al. 2019

Biosystems Engineering

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With the aim of characterizing the different stress patterns in several egg types and evaluate the resistivity of the eggshell while impacting in free fall, experimental tests and computational simulations have been performed on eggs of the species Gallus gallus (domestic hen), Struthio camelus (ostrich), and Testudo sp. (tortoise). The different types of failure were determined for each taxa and stress distribution maps were recorded and correlated between experimental results and computational simulations using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). For domestic hens, the numerical results obtained in both tests have highly correlation with the results obtained in previous works; for ostrich (Struthio camelus) and tortoise (Testudo sp.) eggshells, the new data represent a very good tool to understand in further works the failure mechanisms of the eggshells. More interestingly, the present study provides the first empirical and mathematic results that allow establishing confident safety interval related to the laying process in the poultry industry.

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“…émergence, utilisation de l'habitat, domaine vital, aire protégée, écologie spatiale, télémétrie VHF & Thorbjarnarson, 2000), Crocodylus johnstoni (Tucker et al, 1997), Crocodylus niloticus (Calverley & Downs, 2015;Combrink et al, 2017;Hutton, 1989), Crocodylus porosus (Brien et al, 2008;Campbell et al, 2013;Kay, 2004;Read et al, 2007), Gavialis gangeticus (Lang & Whitaker, 2010), Melanosuchus niger (Martin & da Silva, 1998), Paleosuchus trigonatus (Magnusson & Lima, 1991) and Tomistoma schlegelii (Bonke et al, 2014). Habitat use, homing abilities, dispersal and social interactions have also been described for some species (Balaguera-Reina et al, 2016;Goodwin & Marion, 1979;Hutton, 1989;Read et al, 2007;Rodda, 1984;Tucker et al, 1997).…”

Section: O T S C L é Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Comprehensive studies of spatial ecology have been undertaken on many crocodylian species using a variety of methods. These studies have improved our knowledge on movement patterns and home range of Alligator mississippiensis (Rodda, 1984; Rootes & Chabreck, 1993; Rosenblatt et al, 2013), Alligator sinensis (Ding et al, 2004), Caiman yacare (Campos et al, 2006), Crocodylus acutus (Balaguera‐Reina et al, 2016; Beauchamp et al, 2018), Crocodylus intermedius (Munoz & Thorbjarnarson, 2000), Crocodylus johnstoni (Tucker et al, 1997), Crocodylus niloticus (Calverley & Downs, 2015; Combrink et al, 2017; Hutton, 1989), Crocodylus porosus (Brien et al, 2008; Campbell et al, 2013; Kay, 2004; Read et al, 2007), Gavialis gangeticus (Lang & Whitaker, 2010), Melanosuchus niger (Martin & da Silva, 1998), Paleosuchus trigonatus (Magnusson & Lima, 1991) and Tomistoma schlegelii (Bonke et al, 2014). Habitat use, homing abilities, dispersal and social interactions have also been described for some species (Balaguera‐Reina et al, 2016; Goodwin & Marion, 1979; Hutton, 1989; Read et al, 2007; Rodda, 1984; Rosenblatt et al, 2013; Tucker et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space use and social interactions of Central African slender‐snouted crocodiles Mecistops leptorhynchus (Bennett, 1835) in Loango National Park, Gabon

et al. 2021

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Mecistops leptorhynchus (Bennett, 1935) is among the least studied crocodylians worldwide, and little information exists on its movement patterns and habitat use.Using VHF radio tracking, we determined home range, core use areas and spatiotemporal interactions for 30 individual M. leptorhynchus (14 females and 16 males), as well as providing a preliminary assessment of their habitat preferences and emergence dynamics in the Echira and Ngové Rivers, Loango National Park (Gabon). During two periods in 2010 (March to June-106 days, and October to November-49 days) we recorded 447 relocations of all tagged individuals (mean of 15 relocations/crocodile). Individual home range varied from 3.03 to 164.83 ha (median = 17.91 ha) and core use area from 0.25 to 25.37 ha (median = 1.50 ha). Males exhibited the largest home ranges whereas females recorded the largest core areas. Subadults covered the largest areas at both spatial scale. These difference were not statistically significant.Interestingly, M. leptorhynchus showed more space sharing than other crocodylian species, though with significant temporal avoidance-likely an adaptive behaviour used to reduce risks of conflict in high density environments. Our emergence assessment, though potentially confounded by transmitter placement, indicated limited basking behaviour in this species with unknown effect on its detection probability. All individuals, irrespective of size and sex, principally used main water courses. Ultimately our findings provide the first data on M. leptorhynchus home range and social organisation, which may help direct targeted management strategies for this species. K E Y W O R D S emergence, habitat use, home range, protected area, spatial ecology, VHF telemetry Résumé Mecistops leptorhynchus (Bennett, 1935) est l'un des crocodyliens les moins étudiés au monde, dont très peu d'informations relatives à la structure des mouvements et l'utilisation de l'habitat existent. Nous avons utilisé un suivi radio VHF, pour déterminer le domaine vital et la zone d'utilisation centrale, la dynamique des interactions spatiotemporelles de 30 individus de Mecistops leptorhynchus (14 femelles et 16 mâles), et

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Nest-site selection, nesting behaviour and spatial ecology of female Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in South Africa

Cited by 16 publications

References 23 publications

Using environmental niche modelling to investigate abiotic predictors of crocodilian attacks on people

Using environmental niche modelling to investigate abiotic predictors of crocodilian attacks on people

Computational approach to evaluating the strength of eggs: Implications for laying in organic egg production

Space use and social interactions of Central African slender‐snouted crocodiles Mecistops leptorhynchus (Bennett, 1835) in Loango National Park, Gabon

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