Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the most abundant big predator in Africa. The rising human population is making their interaction with humans more and more common making studies about their behaviour vital for their conservation. This study investigated their activity pattern at the border of a fenced conservancy in Kenya (Laikipia County). Hyenas were photographed between 2017 and 2018 at the corridors that connect the conservancy with the surroundings. Their presence/absence was analysed in the relation to rainfall, calculated as the mm of water fallen each day and the average amount of mm fallen in the previous 7, 30, 60, and 90 days; biomass amount, calculated with a Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index; and night brightness, calculated as an index including earth-moon distance, lunar illumination, and cloud coverage. Biomass didn’t show any significant effect on the activity of hyenas (p: 0.5991), this was thought to be due to constransting effects that induced some hyenas to leave while others stayed inside the borders of the conservancy not resulting in a net positive nor negative effect. Night brightness, on the contrary, had a negative effect on hyenas presence. This result was explained by hyenas' hunting success during brighter nights and their relationship with other sympatric carnivores. Rainfall turned out to be a significant factor only if considered in the previous 7 days. With the increase in prey abundance inside the conservancy, hyenas dind’t need to commute to other hunting grounds and were less active near the borders if there was more rain. However, studying the spotted hyena’s behaviour in connection to environmental factors only, didn’t give a complete picture of the complex inter- and intraspecific interactions that drive their activity. A larger dataset and more research are needed to obtain more complete and reliable results.