CONSERVATIONISTS from a Hampshire zoo are helping to protect the world’s most endangered zebra ahead of a major infrastructure project that will cut through its habitat.
Marwell Wildlife is using GPS collars to monitor 20 Grevy’s zebra in Northern Kenya to collect data that will safeguard the future of the species.
The project, in collaboration with Kenya Wildlife Service and the Grevy’s Zebra Trust, will track the zebra for one year to find out how they move around their range.
The data will be used to mitigate the threats to the species by informing planning and conservation management decisions.
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The Grevy’s zebra is one of the rarest equids in the world and can only be found in northern Kenya and isolated groups in Ethiopia.
Plans are underway to develop Eastern Africa’s major infrastructure project, which forms part of Kenya’s growth and development plan.
The LAPSSET corridor (Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport) aims to bring together Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan and includes large infrastructure such as an oil pipeline, motorway and a railway, which will cut directly across core Grevy’s zebra range in northern Kenya, potentially splitting the population.
Professor Philip Riordan, Marwell Wildlife’s director of conservation, said: “The Grevy’s zebra is one of the most endangered mammals in the world and Kenya is the last stronghold for this species with fewer than 3,000 animals remaining.
“We’re working with our colleagues to ensure we have as much knowledge about Grevy’s zebra, particularly given the amount of infrastructure and development across the region that might affect the animals.
“By collaring them, we hope to gain more insights that can inform not just our conservation work but the mitigations that we might advise being put in place to ensure this species has a future.”
Each member of the team, made up of experts from Kenya Wildlife Service, Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Marwell Wildlife and Grevy’s Zebra Trust, was assigned a role so the animal was down for less than 10 minutes.
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First, the vets would check over the zebra before fitting each collar while others would photograph the Grevy’s unique stripe pattern, hooves and teeth. In eight days, 18 animals were collared in the Samburu region and two in the El Barta area.
Tanya Langenhorst, senior conservation biologist at Marwell, said: “We took this opportunity to collect as many biometrical data as possible; blood and faecal samples, body temperature and measurements of body parts so we can learn more about this amazing species.
“Grevy’s Zebra Trust and Marwell are using the EarthRanger (ER) platform to visualise the almost real time movement of the Grevy’s zebra. We’ll be able to identify which habitats are critical for Grevy’s zebra distribution, dispersal and movement, and why these areas are important. Our findings will be reported to Kenya Wildlife Service and the LAPSSET planners, so that mitigating measures such as over and under-passes can be implemented where most suitable.”
For more information on Marwell’s work go to marwell.org.uk.
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