Sex differences in home range and habitat use by savannah elephants in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Protected areas  (PAs) in southern Africa provide refuge to important megafauna such as the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana). Sections of these PAs are often transfrontier conservation complexes, whose objective of which is to facilitate historic patterns of wildlife dispersal. Knowledge of megafauna home ranges, habitat use, and dispersal in key PAs can inform vital decision-making for elephant conservation. Location data were derived from satellite collars fitted on 26 savannah elephants from 2016 to 2022 in Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe to investigate seasonal and sex differences in elephants' home range sizes, home range overlap and their interaction with environmental variables. Differences in the size of home ranges between sexes in all seasons were not significant. Both male and female elephants had high site fidelity, retaining 60% of their home ranges between consecutive seasons. Only females, possibly tracking forage quality showed reduced overlap of home ranges between the hot dry and hot wet seasons. Male elephants preferred vegetation typles dominated by Colophospermum mopane, whereas females preferred more diverse upland vegetation types, showing a preference for higher elevations than males over all seasons.  In areas where elephant movement is restricted by fences and human settlements, continuous monitoring of elephant space use is receommended and research dynmics should be taken into account when developing site-specific management plans for African elephants.