Wild dogs record 2,500-mile trek across Zambia in search of a mate

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, African wild dogs are extraordinary long-distance travellers.

• Espécies migratórias cruciais para o planeta sob ameaçaPublicado 12 de fevereiro de 2024.

Um bando de cães selvagens africanos completou uma jornada recorde de 2. 485 milhas (4. 000 km) atravessando a Zâmbia.

Scientists say it is the furthest recorded distance for any African land mammal searching for a mate, offering hope that wildlife can travel across vast distances despite growing human pressures.

The three brothers zigzagged across Zambia, navigating a landscape increasingly shaped by people and avoiding obstacles including major cities.

However, other wild dogs tracked with GPS collars in the study died in illegal snares, underlining the dangers they face.

Fonte da imagem, Education Images/Universal Images Group/Getty ImagesLegenda da imagem, Comunidades humanas em expansão dividem seus vastos territórios de pastagem de antes.

Three sisters almost completed an equally epic journey, but stopped when one became trapped in a snare.

African wild dogs are among Africa's rarest predators, with only about 6,000 remaining in the wild.

Eles vivem em bandos altamente sociais, caçam juntos e são conhecidos por sua vasta mobilidade em busca de novos territórios e oportunidades de reprodução com outros bandos.

They cannot breed within the pack they are born into, so they either wait and may eventually inherit their pack, or set off at the age of two or three in search of a mate.

The brothers covered about 260 miles in a straight line over the course of eight months, but travelled nearly 10 times that overall while crossing through a broken-up landscape.

Esses tipos de jornadas são conhecidas como dispersões — viajar em uma direção em busca de um parceiro, o que é um comportamento distinto das migrações, onde os animais se movem de ida e volta com as estações em busca de alimento ou habitat.

A Convenção das Nações Unidas sobre Espécies Migratórias identifica as migrações mais longas da África como os gnus se movendo sazonalmente entre Tanzânia e Quênia em busca de pastagem e água, cobrindo mais de 400 milhas.

Globally, caribou undertake the longest single land migrations of any animal - travelling 839 miles in a round trip, while grey wolves have been recorded travelling more than 4,350 miles over a year.

Perhaps even more significant than the distance itself was the route the wild dogs took through Zambia.

They moved between wildlife strongholds, skirting areas containing major human obstacles, including the capital, Lusaka, and heavily developed industrial areas.

The findings suggest wild dog populations across eastern and southern Africa may remain more connected than conservationists previously believed.

O professor Scott Creel, da Montana State University e autor principal do artigo, que tem estudado cães selvagens africanos desde 1991, afirmou que o estudo oferece otimismo cauteloso.

É plausível acreditar que toda população de cães selvagens de grande porte na África Oriental e Austral, exceto as cercadas, esteja potencialmente conectada," ele disse.

But he said, in conservation,"the glass is half empty and the glass is half full", highlighting the threat of poaching snares.

While the three male wild dogs successfully completed their extraordinary journey, two of the three females died.

Researchers identified a pattern in which surviving pack members repeatedly returned to the same location, a behaviour that often signals the death of a companion.

The research, published in the journal, Ecology, external, adds weight to calls to create strips of natural land outside protected areas that connect separate wildlife areas broken apart by roads, towns, or farms.

Bruce Ellender, um dos coautores do artigo e diretor da Kafue Conservation da organização ambiental The Nature Conservancy, disse que espécies que percorrem grandes áreas, como cães selvagens e elefantes, precisam de paisagens conectadas se quiserem sobreviver no futuro.

We can't see these protected areas as islands and expect them to be functional in the long term, we need to think much broader than that," he said.

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