Demography and behaviour of African mammals subject to exploitation Original Research Article

Behavioural and demographic changes in animal populations resulting from exploitation are of conservation significance if they affect population growth rates. In this study, demography and behaviour of 19 larger mammals in conservation areas where legal and illegal hunting occurred were compared to that in a fully protected non-hunted area in western Tanzania. Results showed that there were few differences in speciesʹ demography between exploited and unexploited areas, but that, in general, mammals were more flighty outside protected areas and that these tended to be species that were more heavily exploited. Nevertheless, there were few differences in other behaviour patterns between the two areas. These findings question the supposition that behaviour and demography of mammals necessarily changes in areas of exploitation, and that population growth rates or monitoring strategies need be affected in anthropogenically disturbed habitats.