Aspects of white rhino movement over a 12-month period based on hourly GPS location data

Abstract

Eight female southern white rhinos were monitored by ranger teams at the 64 km² Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (ZRS), Uganda, 24 hours per day, seven days per week for the year 1 May 2020–30 April 2021. The teams kept the monitored rhinos in view at all times, albeit from a safe distance. In bushier habitat, the rangers would be within 50 metres of the rhinos while in open habitat the rangers could be as much as 150 metres from them. Each ranger team had a smartphone installed with Cybertracker software. These were used to record various details of rhino behaviour including which sector and block the rhino had spent time in, and their GPS location; both on an hourly basis. Such detailed data for free ranging white rhinos has not been published before.