Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon
In Central Africa, Gabon is a forested country with a rich biodiversity where conflict between wild animals and humans is common and causes innumerable damage to crops. The worst crop raiders are elephants, which can destroy an entire crop in a single night. These raids threaten people's liveli...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Fund for Support and Development of Protected Areas "Bear Land"
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Nature Conservation Research: Заповедная наука |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ncr-journal.bear-land.org/article/133 |
| _version_ | 1818263859589283840 |
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| author | Steeve Ngama Lisa Korte Mireille Johnson Cédric Vermeulen Jérôme Bindelle |
| author_facet | Steeve Ngama Lisa Korte Mireille Johnson Cédric Vermeulen Jérôme Bindelle |
| author_sort | Steeve Ngama |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Central Africa, Gabon is a forested country with a rich biodiversity where conflict between wild animals and humans is common and causes innumerable damage to crops. The worst crop raiders are elephants, which can destroy an entire crop in a single night. These raids threaten people's livelihoods as well as elephants because angry farmers often retaliate with killing campaigns against crop raiding elephants. To keep elephants out of farms the use of chilli pepper is recommended as a non-lethal method. But only a few studies have tested methods to use chilli pepper to deter elephants in Gabon. Results from this study give a starting point for understanding how forest elephants react to devices using chilli pepper as a deterrent based on sequential camera trap photos. A chilli pepper device that resulted in splashing concentrate on the elephant face proved to be the most effective at deterring elephants. Surprisingly, chilli pepper concentrate directly applied to mango fruits did not deter elephants from eating the fruits, although it probably caused some discomfort. To make effective deterrent devices with chilli pepper future works need to focus on exploring practices to reach the elephant face with the least, safe quantity of chilli pepper and which will have enough strong deterrent effect. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T19:25:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6cad54a3b3b41ffb94d05abc39f1b08 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2500-008X 2500-008X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T19:25:43Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Fund for Support and Development of Protected Areas "Bear Land" |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Conservation Research: Заповедная наука |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6cad54a3b3b41ffb94d05abc39f1b082022-12-22T00:14:32ZengFund for Support and Development of Protected Areas "Bear Land"Nature Conservation Research: Заповедная наука2500-008X2500-008X2018-06-0132263510.24189/ncr.2018.027Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, GabonSteeve Ngama0Lisa Korte1Mireille Johnson2Cédric Vermeulen3Jérôme Bindelle4Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège; Agronomic and Forestry Research Institute, National Center for Scientific and Technological Research, Libreville, GabonSmithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gabon Biodiversity Program, USASmithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Gabon Biodiversity Program, USAGembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège; Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège; In Central Africa, Gabon is a forested country with a rich biodiversity where conflict between wild animals and humans is common and causes innumerable damage to crops. The worst crop raiders are elephants, which can destroy an entire crop in a single night. These raids threaten people's livelihoods as well as elephants because angry farmers often retaliate with killing campaigns against crop raiding elephants. To keep elephants out of farms the use of chilli pepper is recommended as a non-lethal method. But only a few studies have tested methods to use chilli pepper to deter elephants in Gabon. Results from this study give a starting point for understanding how forest elephants react to devices using chilli pepper as a deterrent based on sequential camera trap photos. A chilli pepper device that resulted in splashing concentrate on the elephant face proved to be the most effective at deterring elephants. Surprisingly, chilli pepper concentrate directly applied to mango fruits did not deter elephants from eating the fruits, although it probably caused some discomfort. To make effective deterrent devices with chilli pepper future works need to focus on exploring practices to reach the elephant face with the least, safe quantity of chilli pepper and which will have enough strong deterrent effect.http://ncr-journal.bear-land.org/article/133camera trapCentral Africachilli pepperforest elephantsGabon |
| spellingShingle | Steeve Ngama Lisa Korte Mireille Johnson Cédric Vermeulen Jérôme Bindelle Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon Nature Conservation Research: Заповедная наука camera trap Central Africa chilli pepper forest elephants Gabon |
| title | Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon |
| title_full | Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon |
| title_fullStr | Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon |
| title_short | Camera traps to study the forest elephant's (Loxodonta cyclotis) response to chilli pepper repellent devices in Gamba, Gabon |
| title_sort | camera traps to study the forest elephant s loxodonta cyclotis response to chilli pepper repellent devices in gamba gabon |
| topic | camera trap Central Africa chilli pepper forest elephants Gabon |
| url | http://ncr-journal.bear-land.org/article/133 |
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