Spatial ecology of male hippopotamus in a changing watershed

Abstract

The obligate dependency of the common hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius, on water makes them particularly vulnerable to hydrological disturbances. Despite the threats facing this at-risk species, there is a lack of information regarding H. amphibius spatial ecology. We used high-resolution tracking data of male H. amphibius to assess home range size, movement mode (e.g. residency and migratory movements), and resource selection patterns. We compared these results across seasons to understand how hydrological variability influences H. amphibius movement. Our study watershed has been severely impacted by anthropogenic water abstraction causing the river to stop flowing for prolonged periods. We observed H. amphibius movements to be highly constrained to the river course with grassy floodplains being their preferred habitat. Dominant and small sub-adult males displayed year-round residency in/near river pools and had smaller home ranges compared to large sub-adults. During the dry season, large sub-adult males made significant (~15 km) upstream movements. The larger home range size of large sub-adults can be attributed to the elevated levels of migratory and exploratory activities to limit conspecific aggression as the river dries. Our observations provide insight into how future changes in water flow may influence male H. amphibius movements and populations through density-dependent effects.

Habitat and Distribution Modeling of Prehistoric Hippos (Hippopotamus sivalensis spp.) During Pleistocene in Java Island

“…Hippos itself does have a fairly wide home range of 50-500 hectares or a radius of 300 m. While the roaming ability of hippos is known to be quite far too. Even Stears et al (2019) reported H. amphibious walking distance of 15 km. Roth et al (2004) observed that C. liberiensis was able to travel long distances downstream.…”

Hippopotamus movements structure the spatiotemporal dynamics of an active anthrax outbreak

“…Changing water availability is a key mechanism that drives the exploratory and migratory movement modes of H. amphibius (Stears et al 2019). This landscape change can influence disease dynamics by altering contact rates between susceptible individuals and B. anthracis reservoirs (e.g., Ostfeld et al 2005).…”

Automated Inundation History Mapping over Large Areas using Landsat and Google Earth Engine

“…the Thamalakane River), are clearly mapped (Figure 3). Access to high spatial resolution maps is also important for spatial planning [28][29][30], assessing land use change [31][32][33], water resource planning [34,35], and wildlife habitat studies [36][37][38].…”