Hartmann's mountain zebra studbook 2011 - Marwell Zoo

Mountain zebra tracking
The main component of our project involves tracking the movements of wild Hartmann’s mountain
zebras in Namibia’s Kunene Region. We began this portion of our project by deploying three GPS
collars on mountain zebras in July 2010 and March 2011. These collars have a lifespan of
approximately 24 months, and we will only be able to obtain the location data once the collars are
retrieved. In March 2012, we used the collars’ VHF signals to locate all three GPS-collared zebras,
relatively close to their original capture locations. Our current plan is to retrieve the GPS collars in
summer 2012.
In November 2011 and March 2012, we deployed five additional collars in the Kunene Region. The
new collars are equipped with a GPS unit and a satellite downloading device, allowing us to access
the zebras’ locations from any computer with an internet connection. Using our current settings, we
are obtaining locations of these zebras every four hours.
All four of the zebras we began tracking in the dry season (Nov 2011) moved eastward, in the
direction of the rains, during the wet season (Fig. 1). However, most of our tracked zebras have
remained within 30 km (19 mi) of their capture location. An exception is a stallion we collared, which
moved nearly 60 km and crossed over the Grootberg mountain range on his migration east during the
early rains (Fig. 1). On average, the satellite-tracked zebras have traveled 5-6 km (3-4 mi) per day,
through elevations ranging from 737 to 1,504 m (2,418 to 4,934 ft; Table 1). All have remained north of
the veterinary cordon fence that stretches across most of Namibia, with two mares clearly roaming
along the fence line (Fig. 1 and 2). Despite occasional gaps in the fence line, hundreds of mountain
zebras have died in past drought periods trying to cross the veterinary fence, presumably attempting
to reach grazing and water to the south.
AII