Birds, insects, amphibians & reptiles

Back to Conserving terrestrial ecosystems

 

Malilangwe has a diversity of bird species with over 400 species recorded. A total of 60 raptor species, including 11 owl species have been recorded.

We have conducted some of the following studies:

 

Raptors

Raptor populations were first studied here at Malilangwe in 1995 (Davison 1998). A remarkably high density of 38 species was found in the sandstone hills of the Malilangwe Range. This was one of the highest known densities of raptors in the world. Research on raptors was extended to the entire reserve in 2002 (Middleton 2002), with follow-up studies in 2003 (Middleton 2003), 2005 (Hartley et al. 2005) and 2006 (Clegg 2006).

During Zimbabwe’s period of economic crisis (2006-2008), significant numbers of doves were killed using poison in the communal lands surrounding the reserve for sale as bush meat. This had a negative effect on raptors at Malilangwe, particularly tawny and bateleur eagles, because they scavenged the poisoned birds and succumbed to poisoning themselves.

Five bateleur and 12 tawny eagles were recorded poisoned between 2006 and 2011. Our security team informed the local traditional leaders of the problem, and the poisoning was stopped.

In July 2012, 197 vultures died after feeding on an elephant that had been poisoned by poachers in neighbouring Gonarezhou National Park. Many of these vultures habitually nested on our property because data collected since 2006 showed a dramatic decline in active nests post-2011 (Capon 2014). Clearly, poisoning has become a serious threat to biodiversity here at Malilangwe and a position paper on how best to tackle the problem was commissioned in 2014 (Capon 2014).

 

Red-billed Quelea populations

James Dale conducted a PhD at Malilangwe on Red-billed Quelea – the world’s most abundant bird (Dale 2000). He focused on their ornamental breeding plumage and showed that its most likely function is individual recognition of potential male competitors – an important requirement in the densely packed nesting colonies of this species.

Following his work, the size and distribution of quelea breeding colonies at Malilangwe have been recorded by storing maps of their boundaries as layers in the GIS. Quelea are a major threat to the cereal crops of the communities surrounding our Reserve. To avoid conflict, communities have been allowed to harvest chicks from nests at the breeding colonies. Up to four tons have been harvested in a single nesting season.

Termites

The species richness of termites was studied in 1999 (Chawanji 2000). Thirty-one species of eighteen genera and four families were recorded. Diversity was related to geology, with high species richness on gneiss, basalt and alluvium, and low diversity on sandstone.

Frogs and toads

The diversity of frogs and toads was investigated in 1994 and compared with the neighbouring communal lands (Ferguson 1995). While 18 species were recorded, there were some notable omissions. It was uncertain whether the missing species were simply overlooked or actually absent. Concern was raised whether past management practices or the extreme drought in 1992 may have caused local extinction of some species. No follow-up study has been conducted.

 

Reptiles

A checklist of species was compiled by Don Broadley after a brief survey of our Reserve in 2010.

Kurt van Wyk, MSc Student from University of the Western Cape is writing a paper on the reptile diversity of the Chiredzi District which will be a useful contribution to reptile conservation in Zimbabwe (reptiles have not been studied in Zimbabwe for a decade).

Kurt has been in the field on Malilangwe conducting reptile trapping surveys as he continues working towards his PhD. The aim of these surveys is to assess the impact of historical land transformation on the reptile community. This is accomplished by comparing the relative abundance of reptile species in untransformed woodland and a portion of the reserve that was previously cultivated.