Body size rules habitat selection and population declines after drought periods in a carnivore community of the Sahara Desert
José María Gil‐SánchezF. Javier Herrera-SánchezJavier Rodríguez-SilesMiguel Ángel Díaz-PorteroÁngel ArredondoJuan Manuel SáezBegoña ÁlvarezInmaculada CancioJesús de LucasJoaquín PérezGerardo ValenzuelaJaime Martínez‐ValderramaMariola Sánchez-CerdáThomas LahlafiJennifer A. LeonardCarlos SarabiaAbdeljebbar QninbaEmílio Virgós
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Abstract The emerging commercial farmers in Namibia represent a new category of farmer that has entered the freehold farming sector since Namibia's independence in 1990. Several assessments of agricultural training needs have been carried out with these farmers but the issue of human–carnivore conflict has not yet been addressed. This study investigated one of the key components driving human–carnivore conflict, namely the attitudes of these farmers towards carnivores and how this affects the level of conflict and carnivore removal. We observed that the attitudes of these farmers are similar to farmers elsewhere. In general, farmers reported high levels of human–carnivore conflict. Many farmers perceived that they had a carnivore problem when sighting a carnivore or its tracks, even in the absence of verified carnivore depredation. Such sightings were a powerful incentive to prompt farmers to want to take action by removing carnivores, often believed to be the only way to resolve human–carnivore conflict. Nonetheless, our study showed that farmers who understood that carnivores play an ecological role had a more favourable attitude and were less likely to want all carnivores removed. We found that negative attitudes towards carnivores and loss of livestock, especially of small stock, predicted actual levels of human–carnivore conflict. Goat losses additionally predicted actual carnivore removals. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to the activities of support structures for emerging commercial farmers in Namibia.
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Living alongside carnivores can incur both costs and benefits on people's lifeways. While positive outcomes of carnivore presence can foster coexistence, negative relations with carnivores can trigger carnivores' killing and undermine their conservation. In response to this, conservation efforts increasingly focus on promoting positive human-carnivore relations, most often through improvements in the flow of economic benefits from carnivores to local communities. However, there is a question mark over the effectiveness and potential consequences of market-based instruments for carnivore conservation. To understand the opportunities and pitfalls of market-based instruments for carnivore conservation, we use a centre-periphery framework to compare human-carnivore relations in two pastoral systems with uneven market-based conservation efforts across Kenya. We conducted 230 semi-structured interviews on costs and benefits, mitigation strategies and self-reported propensity to kill carnivores. Our study shows how different human-carnivore relations are enacted in areas with uneven market-based conservation efforts. We found that the extent to which benefits are attributed to alive carnivores is largely shaped by the existence of market-based conservation efforts in the area. Our results also document an openly self-reported propensity to kill carnivores in places where market-based conservation efforts are meagre at best. A more robust understanding of the effectiveness of market-based instruments for carnivore conservation is essential to sustain positive human-carnivore relations into the future.
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Population size and trends of large carnivores are difficult to determine, but are often needed to inform conservation actions. Direct counts maintained over long time periods are extremely difficult to achieve. Indices of population sizes can be used to estimate large carnivore abundances, but are often case-, species- and site-specific. Here, we test the general applicability of track-based indices to estimate large carnivore abundance. We surveyed 15 306.4 km of roads associated with 339 transects across a wide geographical scale, large range of densities and variable substrates for tracks of African large carnivores. A combined model for all carnivore species on sandy soils serves as a robust approach to predict large carnivore densities. Thus, indices based on track counts can provide useful estimates of carnivore abundance. We found consistent relationships between track densities and the actual carnivore densities, having taken account of substrate.
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Abstract: Carnivore scats recovered from animal attack and/or scavenging contexts frequently contain forensic evidence such as human bone fragments. Forensic cases with carnivore involvement are increasingly prevalent, necessitating a methodology for the recovery and analysis of scat evidence. This study proposes a method for the safe preparation of carnivore scat, recovery of bone inclusions, and quantification and comparison of scat variables. Fourteen scats (lion, jaguar, lynx, wolf, and coyote) were prepared with sodium‐acetate‐formalin fixative; analytical variables included carnivore individual, species, body size, and taxonomic family. Scat variables, particularly bone fragment inclusions, were found to vary among carnivore individuals, families, species, and sizes. The methods in this study facilitate safe scat processing, the complete recovery of digested evidence, and the preliminary identification of involved animals. This research demonstrates that scat collected from forensic contexts can yield valuable information concerning both the victim and the carnivore involved.
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BOOK REVIEW 233 717. Desert Daughters, Desert Sons: Rethinking the Christian Desert Tradition by Rachel Wheeler (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2020. Pp. ix, 178, $19.95 ISBN 089-0-8146-8500-6). The apophthegmata patrum have been read and meditated on for centuries. Even the most cursory introduction to early Christian monasticism will expose one to the sayings, and a deep dive into early monastic history reveals that there are thousands of these sayings extant, so we may assume that thousands more did not survive the course of time. They are a wealth of information regarding the mindset, spirituality, and, at times, structure of early Christian monasticism, especially that of the deserts of Egypt. At the same time they can be difficult to understand or puzzling to us moderns because their cultural location, philosophical-theological premises and telos are radically different from ours. Nonetheless, they are not so enigmatic as to be mere historical artifacts but have the power and ability to continue to inspire and guide the modern monastic or non-monastic alike in her quest for union with God. Thanks to the diligence of Tim Vivian and John Wortley over the past decade, many of the sayings are now available in English for the first time. Arranged topically, systematically and alphabetically, the sayings are bursting with meaning, and thanks especially to the scholarship of Tim Vivian (often in the pages of this very journal) we can see how rich the sayings are, showing a depth of theological wealth that has not always been recognized in the earliest desert dwellers. Wheeler's volume is meant to continue this deep exploration of the sayings, especially as they depict women, who are often missing from this literature. Or, as Wheeler shows, they are there but often in the background or on the periphery. Wheeler's goal is to bring these women out of the shadows, if you will. But I am not convinced that she has done this. Wheeler chooses to adopt Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza's "creative hermeneutic" as her interpretive philosophy. The weakness of this approach is that Fiorenza's hermeneutic, originally applied to biblical studies, "imaginatively reconstructs" things (17). Yet, what control is there to this imaginative hermeneutic so that it does not become overly subjective? And how is it rooted culturally and linguistically to its source material so that the modern interpreter cannot bend the meaning of a text to suit her/his fancy? Does this imaginative project reveal the saying's meaning(s), or is it only a tool to take the saying's teaching and 234 ABR 72:2 – JUNE 2021 enable "contemporary readers to engage imagination and plumb this interaction for wisdom applicable to our own . . . situation" (46)? If the latter, then it seems reasonable to adopt such a hermeneutic inasmuch as one wants to apply these texts to today, but if it is the former, then what keeps one from the exaggerations of an overactive imagination? One example where Wheeler seems to have overstepped the text's meaning into something too imaginative occurs in her discussion of the systematic saying "Discretion 137." During a famine a monk decides to take food to his mother, but is stopped by a divine voice, assuring him that God will care for his mother. In response the monk returns to his cell. Three days later the mother visits the monk's cell to report that another monk brought her grain to make bread. This causes her son to glorify God and become "suffused with hope." I would suggest that the point of the story is to illustrate the monk's obedience to God and/or see it as an illustration of the truth of Jesus'teaching about anxiousness in Matthew 6:25-34. Or, given the reference to "three days" the author may have intended something more Christological vis-à-vis Jesus' resurrection; or, since it is categorized under the heading "Discretion," it is about that virtue (which Wheeler also concedes). In any case, in her discussion of the saying Wheeler writes, "It is impossible to overstate how ridiculously convenient this is for the man to not have to worry about his mother anymore." For Wheeler, the divine...
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Abstract The media and scientific literature are increasingly reporting an escalation of large carnivore attacks on humans in North America and Europe. Although rare compared to human fatalities by other wildlife, the media often overplay large carnivore attacks on humans, causing increased fear and negative attitudes towards coexisting with and conserving these species. Although large carnivore populations are generally increasing in developed countries, increased numbers are not solely responsible for the observed rise in the number of attacks by large carnivores. Here we show that an increasing number of people are involved in outdoor activities and, when doing so, some people engage in risk-enhancing behaviour that can increase the probability of a risky encounter and a potential attack. About half of the well-documented reported attacks have involved risk-enhancing human behaviours, the most common of which is leaving children unattended. Our study provides unique insight into the causes and as a result the prevention, of large carnivore attacks on people. Prevention and information that can encourage appropriate human behaviour when sharing the landscape with large carnivores are of paramount importance to reduce both potentially fatal human-carnivore encounters and their consequences to large carnivores.
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A total of 150 rectal swab samples were collected from diarrheic dogs from the Sivas Municipal Animal Shelter, Turkey in April 2018. While 127 faecal samples were gathered from adults, 23 samples were collected from puppies. Canine parvovirus type 2 (Carnivore protoparvovirus 1), Canine minute virus (Carnivore bocaparvovirus 1) and Canine bocavirus (Carnivore bocaparvovirus 2) were examined by PCR with three sets of novel primers. Some of the amplicons were subjected to molecular sequencing and molecular analysis. Three faecal (2.36%) samples were found to be positive for Carnivore protoparvovirus 1, five faecal samples (3.94%) were found to be positive for Carnivore bocaparvovirus 1 and three samples (2.36%) were found to be positive for Carnivore bocaparvovirus 2 among 127 adult dogs. On the other hand, 14/23 faecal samples (60.87%) were found to be positive for Carnivore protoparvovirus 1, 8/23 faecal samples (34.78%) were found to be positive for Carnivore bocaparvovirus 1, and 6/23 faecal samples (26.09%) were found to be positive for Carnivore bocaparvovirus 2 from the puppies. Moreover, we detected two distinct clades of Carnivore bocaparvovirus 1 and 2 according to the molecular analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report for the direct detection of Carnivore bocaparvovirus 1 and 2 in Turkey.
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