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Migration

Migration

Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land conversion, as well as slower geological processes leading to changes in the physical environment, are the two leading causes of habitat fragmentation. The fragmentation process typically follows the same steps: perforation, dissection, fragmentation, shrinkage, and attrition.

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Formation of Species

Formation of Species

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Predator-Prey Interactions

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Spotting Cheetahs: Identifying Individuals by Their Footprints

Spotting Cheetahs: Identifying Individuals by Their Footprints

Published on: May 1, 2016

Long-Distance, Transfrontier Carnivore Dispersals in Southern Africa.

Piet Beytell¹, Lise Hanssen², Ortwin Aschenborn³

¹Ministry of Environment Forestry & Tourism Windhoek Namibia.

Ecology and Evolution

|November 12, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Long-range dispersal data for African wild dogs, lions, and spotted hyenas reveal extensive movements. Documented dispersals are among the longest recorded for these tropical carnivore species.

Keywords:

Southern Africa carnivores dispersal hyperdispersal natal dispersal transfrontier

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Zoology
Conservation Biology

Background:

Limited data exist on long-range dispersal in tropical carnivores compared to temperate species.
Understanding dispersal is crucial for effective conservation and management of wide-ranging species.

Purpose of the Study:

To document and analyze long-range, transboundary dispersal events in three key African savanna carnivore species.
To compare dispersal distances with existing records for these and other carnivore species globally.

Main Methods:

Utilized tracking data (details not specified in abstract) to record dispersal movements.
Analyzed spatial data to quantify distances of transboundary movements.

Main Results:

Recorded exceptionally long dispersal events for African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) and African lions (Panthera leo).
Documented a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) dispersal event comparable in magnitude to the longest recorded movements globally for any carnivore.

Conclusions:

Tropical carnivores, particularly in savanna ecosystems, exhibit dispersal capabilities rivaling or exceeding those of many temperate species.
These findings highlight the importance of maintaining large, connected landscapes for the viability of tropical carnivore populations.