Wildlife Science

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The Breeding Biology of Certain East African Horn Bills (Bucerotidae).
(1932-1936) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
Although the habits of hornbills have long been recognised as exceptionally interesting, little in the way of connected observations on their behaviour at the nest has been published for any species. The first concern of anyone finding a nest has nearly always been to cut down the tree or at least break open the hole. Chapin's notes on Bycanistes albotibialis (1931) and Hoesch's on Lophoceros fiavirostris lcucomelas (1934) are exceptional; but there still appear to be no records through all the stages of a hornbill's nesting without interference, conclusive if not fatal, by man. Of the three species for which I am able to put forward original observations in this paper, two of them, Bycanistes cristatus and Lophoceros deckeni, have,' so far as I can discover, not had their nesting described in any way before.
The Comparative Breeding Ecology of Two Species of Euplectes (Bishop Birds) in Usambara
(1938) Moreau, R.E.; Moreau, W.M.; East African Agricultural Research Station, Amani
EUPLECTES NIGROVENTRIS CASSIN, the Zanzibar red bishop, and Eh hordeacea (Linn.), the crimson-crowned bishop, are weavers of the subfamily Ploceinae. On the biology of the former species nothing appears to have been recorded hitherto except the notes reproduced by Reichenow (1904) and those of Vaughan (1929), who (rightly) suspected it to be polygamous. For Euplectes hordeacea we take the work of Lack (1935) as basis and amplify only certain points. Our study is more incomplete than we should have wished because we could not make continuous observations and because of an unexpected technical difficulty. The males of both these bishop birds have a highly conspicuous red breeding dress and are at other times practically indistinguishable in the field from females and young. Both are territory-holding species dependent on grasses for their food and their nesting materials. The architecture of their nests, which are similar except in size, demands close upright vegetation. The rather restricted geographical range of E. nigroventris is wholly contained in that of E. hordeacea. The two species may often be found side by side, but in our experience there is little ecological overlap; the smaller E. nigroventris
A Contribution to the Biology of the Musophagiformes, the so-called Plantain-Eaters.
(1938) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Station, Amani
This paper originated in a few personal observations on Turacus fischeri. In seeking to relate them to published information on allied species, I have realized that the biology of the group, a very striking one confined to the African
Numerical Data on African Birds' Behaviour at the Nest: Hirundo S. Smithii Leach, the Wire-Tailed Swallow.
(1939) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Station
The observations on which this series of papers is based have been made almost entirely by Africans who are able to read and write Swahili. Equipped with note-book, pencil, and ordinary watch, they have made observations for continuous spells of five hours and upwards in the day, and noted the time at which every event occurred, especially the arrival and departure of parent birds. Compared with mechanical systems of recording, the use of African observers has the obvious disadvantage of human fallibility. But I am satisfied from the frequent surprise visits that I paid and from the short spells of watching I was able!, to do myself, that the Africans' records are faithful; and their work has the great advantage over mechanical records that as they became interested; which they did to a surprising and gratifying degree, they began to amplify their bare records of standard events with notes that were often significant. It may be added that the average cost of the observations is less than 1 ½ per hour.
Contributions to the Ornithology of the East African Islands
(1940) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
The sea-bird breeding stations in East African waters are enumerated. Between the Lamu archipelago, where many species nest, and the Rovuma the most important station is Latham Island with its Booby colony (S. dactylatra melanops), which existed at least 115 years ago. Less than half a dozen terneries (mainly S. dougallii and S. fuscata) are known, and no gallery. Reef-Herons, the only sea-birds to breed on bushcovered islets or in mangroves, are more widespread than the other species. The Terns lay about July, the Reef-Herons a month earlier, and the Gannets about four months later in most years.
XXXIII.—Hornbill Studies
(1940) Moreau, W.M.; Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Station Amani
RECENTLY we have undertaken the hand-rearing of young Lophoceros melanoleucos and young Bycanistes cristatus. In nature these species form an interesting contrast: the former is omnivorous and something of a predator; the latter is frugivorous. The female Lophoceros breaks her way out of the nest-hole when the young are barely half fledged, and thereafter helps her mate to feed them; the female Bycanistes remains in the nest with her offspring (usually only one) until it is ready to fly.
The Land Vertebrates of Pemba, Zanzibar and Mafia: a Zoo‐geographical Study.
(1941) Moreau, R.E.; Pakenham, R.H.W.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
Recent advances in the insular ornithology, with which we have been especially concerned, made it possible for US to compare for the first time approximately complete avifaunal lists for the three big East African islands, Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia. We were struck by the curious distributional problems thereby raised, which, in view of the relatively easy dispersal of birds, could not adequately be considered without broadening the basis of discussion to include also terrestrial animals. Since our own special study had been the birds, it is due entirely to the assistance we have received from workers at the British Museum, especially Mr. HW Parker and Mr. R. W. Hayman, that we have been able to deal with the herpetological and the mammal faunas; for such assistance we desire to record our thanks. Lists of the vertebrates of each island were provided by Voeltzkow (1923); but he attempted no comparative study, and for the present purpose check-lists have had to be compiled practically de novo. On the one hand, we found that Voeltzkow’s lists were uncritical, especially in that the early records for ‘r Zanzibar’’were evidently not sifted to exclude those which referred to the madand. Prior to about 1887 a strip along the coasts of what are now Kenya and Tanganyika Territory was more or less subject to the Sultan of Zanzibar. It was often referred to vaguely as “Zanzibar” or “Zanzibar coast,” so that there has been a constant danger of mainland specimens being attributed to the island. After reference to the original records and, wherever possible, labels and museum entries, we have on these grounds excluded from the Zanzibar list many species that were admitted by Voeltzkow. On the other hand, the collecting that has taken place since he compiled his lists has provided many additions to the faunae, especially for Mafia. A number of them, authenticated at the British Museum, have not previously been reported. No claim can be made that the fauna has been completely worked out for any one of the classes or islands.
A Contribution to the Ornithology of the East Side of Lake Tanganyika.
(1943) Moreau, R.E.; Ibis
A description is be given of the more interesting features of a collection from ufipa and the kungwe-mahare highland areas on the east side of lake Tanganyika the forest avifauna proved to be of exceptional interest fourteen new forms being discovered on topographical grounds the kungwe –mahare avifauna would be expected to have rather stronger affinities with the highlands north of the malagarasi depression than with the ufipa highland on the south of the karema gap. But in fact northern affinities are so predominant on the kungwe as to indicate the karema gap as a major zoo geographical barrier. This agrees with the tendency of recent geological work to show that the karema gap represents a rift valley older than the Lake Tanganyika trough and running North West from rukwa
The Half-Collared Kingfisher (Alcedo Semitorquata) at the Nest
(1944) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
This is a widely distributed kingfisher, from the Eastern Cape Province to Angola and Abyssinia. about which little has been written. Everywhere it is a bird of streams rather than rivers and. at any rate in tropical Africa. only those of which the banks are thickly wooded. Exceptionally it occurs as low as 1.000 ft. above; sea-level even close to the Equator-I have seen i· ton a side branch of the lower Pangani River-but from 3,000'ft. upwards in the neighbouring Usambara Mountains it is resident on the small streams in the forest. These waters are remarkably deficient in native fish and. since these kingfishers, unlike Halcyon albiventris and lepidine picte, do not feed on dry land. they probably as a rule depend in part on the abundant crab and amphibian fauna for their food. One at Amani was seen to catch and eat a white butterfly, As others have remarked. the general habits of the Half-collared Kingfisher closely resemble those of the European bird: it has a similar swift direct: flight, high-pitched uninflected squeak and preference for nesting in holes close to water. In appearance it is an even more attractive bird. for the black bill accord! delightfully with the large silvery-white ear-patches and the exquisite blue of the upper parts. The alarm note is a loud.. spip-ip-ip-ip-peep". At Amani (aLt. 3,000 ft. as 1.. lat. 5· 30'S.) a pair of these kingfishers Is always present on a piece of water in the shape of a triangle, about 300 yards long and 100 yards in greatest width. formed by damming a small forest stream. At the upstream end, the pond fades into the swamp and there are
On the Bateleur, Especially at the Nest
(1945) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
An account is given of one hundred hours of observations at a Bateleur'a nest in north‐eastern Tanganyika Territory. The adults were a white‐backed bird and a chestnut‐backed, with a sub‐adult; probably over three years old, in association with them. The youngster took 130 dap to fledge. During at least part of the time all its food was brought by the white‐backed adult. When the fledgling was about one month old its feeds averaged about one in eight hours; during its last week in the nest feeds were nearly three times as frequent.
Aspects of Evolution in the Parrot Genus Agapornis
(1948) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute Amani
Agapornis, an African genus of parrots allied to Loriculus of Asia, has usually been classified in nine species. Their geographical, attitudinal and ecological ranges are described and their temperature relations are worked out. There is a general agreement with Bergmann's rule. Only two of the Agapornids appear to be in any respect ecologically specialized: to A. swinderniana, the only one confined to tropical evergreen forest, the seeds of figs may be an essential food; and A. pullaria is more or less completely dependent on the nests of arboreal insects for nesting-sites. The other seven Agapornids are birds of dry country with a wide range of food and are indiscriminate hole-nesters. All nine birds are practically allopatric. The four closely allied birds in East Africa, which produce fertile hybrids very freely in captvity, seem nowhere actually to meet in nature. Certain vegetation types, especially Brachysregia-Isoberlinia woodland, appear to be an effective barrier, for reasons not clear.
The Red-Billed Oxpecker and its Relation to Stock in Kenya
(1951) van Someren, V.D. ; Game Dept., Kenya, Formerly Veterinary Research Institute, Kenya
Oxpeeker (Baphagus erythrorhyttchus erythrorhyrtehus (Stanley)) and the larger herbivorous animals in East, Central and South Africa has been known for many years. Their habit of perching and feeding upon game animals such as rhinoceros and buffalo, and giving warning to the beasts when danger approaches by their hissing alarm call, has earned for them a bad reputation among professional hunters. With the introduction and gradual extension of cattle farming among both Europeans and Africans in these countries, these birds have found cattle a very suitable host upon which to feed: and their predilection for opening up and attacking sores and abrasions on stock animals has also earned for them among stockowners a worse reputation. Jackson (1938) records them as being a great curse to pack donkeys and mules with sore backs in the early days, since many animals on safari died entirely through the attentions of these birds. Although this habit of feeding upon open sores had been known for many years, it was not until 1933 that a scientific study of their food and feeding habits was made by RE Moreau (1933), who tried also to assess their status as pests or not. Moreau examined the stomach contents of 58 Red-billed Oxpeckers, and summarized the field evidence on their food and feeding habits, mainly in Tanganyika. He found that ticks and other blood-sucking parasites formed an important and probably major part of the birds' diet. A total of 2,291 ticks of all sizes and stages of development were found in 55 of the birds examined, the average being just over 41 ticks to each bird. 95 per cent of these ticks were found to be potential vectors of tick-borne diseases in East Africa, such as east coast fever and heartwater. Diptera, probably all blood-sucking species, were eaten by 44 of the birds, two stomachs containing Diptera exclusively. Other organisms, among which lice were the most numerous, formed an insignificant portion of the food, while animal hair occurred in the majority of stomachs, but in varying quantities. Most of the blood clots found in the stomachs were found to be derived from engorged ticks which had been swallowed whole. It was suggested that these clots had not been ingested directly by the bird from open sores, and only one instance was recorded of an Oxpecker obtaining food in any other way than from a living animal—this being a record of a bird feeding upon some impala meat hung out to dry. Moreau found little satisfactory field evidence that the Oxpecker itself starts an excavation in the hide of an animal for the purpose of feeding, but that the birds undoubtedly avail themselves of any opportunities presented by existing sores or abrasions caused otherwise. On balance he concluded that when stock animals can be looked after and abrasions protected, the birds are not a nuisance, but may do more good than harm. Recently, however, with the extension of dipping practices to kill cattle ticks in most of the European stock areas in Kenya, it has been suggested that the birds were causing more damage to stock than formerly because their natural food of ticks was becoming scarcer; and that they were turning more and more to making deliberate incisions in order to feed on flesh or blood. It was considered therefore that control measures should be greatly enforced.
Daily Occurrence of African Game Animals at Water Water Holes During Dry Weather
(1958/1960) Weir, J.; Davison, E.; Department of Biological Science, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management, Causeway, Rhodesia
Few quantitative studies have been made of the behaviour or biology of the African game animals, although much has been written about them. The data presented here are derived from 27 observational censuses each lasting 24 hours carried out during 1958, 1959 and 1960 in Wankie National Park, Rhodesia, by members of staff of the Department of National Parks, and involving over 11,000 animals. These censuses are conducted on or near the night of the full moon in late September, October or early November (during the peak of the dry season) when the game animals are concentrated near the few pans or waterholes which still contain water. Most of these pans are supplied with water pumped from boreholes. Contemporary literature abounds in conflicting statements on the daily habits of many of these animals. Information on their diurnal activity and movements is important in strip counts (Dasmann and Mossman 1962a) in studies on predation (Dasmann and Mossman 1962b), and in the general biology of these animals. The animals themselves may take some part in the creation of waterholes (Weir 1962) and it seems probable that the pans play an important part in the social behaviour of the mammal herds which congregate near them in dry weather. While such congregations of herds are often reported (Grzimek and Grzimek 1960, Shortridge 1934, Vesey-FitzGerald 1960 and many others), the behavioural and ecological consequences of such enforced high density congregations on the herds themselves have not been investigated. It is not known whether there is any competition for water or, if there is, which species of animals would be involved in such competition. There might also be competition for time and opportunity to drink as distinct from competition for water.
A Possible Course of Evolution of Animal Drinking Holes (Pans) And Reflected Changes In Their Biology
(1960) Weir, J.S.; Department of zoology University college of Rhodesia and Nyasaland salisbury Southern Rhodesia
General conditions in a number of water holes (pans) in Wankie National Park, Southern Rhodesia, are described, It is postulated that these pans present an evolutionary sequence which can be traced by changes in physical structure, in pH and alkalinity of the water, and in faunal composition. Their origin is attributable largely to zoogenous erosion by large mammals, and their further evolution may be critically affected by these animals.
Ecology and Zoogeography of Aquatic Hemiptera from l'emporary Pools in Central Africa
(1965) Weir, J.S.; University College of Rhodesia Nyasaland
Little information is available on the biology or ecology of African aquatic Hemiptera though these are abundant in many habitats. Some ecological information is given by HYNES (1955) (in East Africa) and HUTCHINSON (1929) (mainly in South Africa).
A Survey of Past and Present Wildlife Research in East Africa
(1965) Talbot, L.M.; Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California at Berkeley 2590 Cedar Street, Berkeley 8, California 94708, U.S.A.
The survey involved visits throughout East Africa to contact those concerned with wildlife research, as well as a review of the available literature. This paper presents the results of the survey. Wildlife research in East Africa is not a unified field and pertinent data come from a variety of disciplines. Broadly speaking there are four major types of research involving wildlife that have been or are being carried out in East Africa: 1. Observations on natural history; 2. Taxonomic and distributional studies; 3. Research in other fields which happens to involve wildlife; 4. Systematic research focused on wildlife itself.
Recent Investigations into Theileridae of Cattle and Buffalo in Africa
(East African Veterinary Research Organization, 1966) East African Veterinary Research Organization; Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Veterinary Research Institute Muguga)
A parasite, isolated from some unknown wild animal, was transmitted through ten passages in high-grade cattle via Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. kochi.It proved to be a strain of Theileria parva of low virulence. Only 25 per cent ofinfected cattle died and the mortality rate was directly related to the number of ticks used to transmit the parasite. Some animals became carriers after recovery.It is suggested that the existence of such mild strains with persistent infectivitymay account for some of the alleged successes of field treatments and possibly for sporadic cases of East Coast Fever that occur in areas with a long history of freedom from the disease.
White and Black Rhinoceros in Rhodesia
(1967) Roth, H.H.; National Park and Wildlife Management Rhodesia
This account of the past and present status of both species of rhinoceros in Rhodesia was presented by the author, in his capacity as Assistant Director (Research) of National Parks and Wildlife Management in Rhodesia, to the Survival Service Commission of IUCN in 1965, and since brought up to date. Dr. Roth, who is now Wildlife Officer of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), describes how both species have been eliminated from large areas not only by human settlement but also by tsetse control operations, and shows the importance of modern techniques of translocation, both for saving threatened populations and reducing local over-populations.
A Survey of Brucellosis in Game Animals in Rhodesia
(1967) Roth, H.H.; Veterinary Research Laboratory Salisbury
To establish the incidence of brucellosis in wildlife in Rhodesia, serum samples of 469 game animals, mainly ungulate species, were examined for Brucella abortus agglutinins; 371 of these were also tested against Brucella melitensis antigen. In addition testicles of 923 males were collected and inspected for pathological lesions. The survey, which covered more than 1,000 wild animals in 14 different localities, produced no evidence for enzootic brucellosis in game in these areas. A positive agglutinin titre in a buffalo, and suspicious serum agglutinations in another buffalo and a rhinoceros indicated, however, that Brucella organisms do occur naturally amongst wild ungulates; they may persist in a latent form without affecting the reproductivity of the game population. Comparison of results obtained from ranching areas in which contagious abortion was common in cattle, and from unsettled savannah lands gave no indication of a possible significance of game animals as a reservoir for bovine brucellosis. The specificity of low titre agglutinations, observed in greater numbers only in eland, impala and waterbuck, is discussed.
Sleeping Sickness Survey ill the Serengeti Area (Tanzania) 1971
(1971) David R.; EATRO Tororo Uganda (East african Trypanosomiasis Research Organization Imperial College Field Station Silwood Park ascot Burks UK
The paper reports an epidemiological survey of populations of Glossina swynertoni in the Serengeli National Park. Tsetse flies were sampled from different areas supporting different densities of flies, and their infection rates were determined by dissection. Although, as in a previous survey, no mature T. brucei subgroup infections were encountered, it appeared that the T. vivax subgroup infection rate was highest in areas of high tsetse density. Infection rate figures are analyzed to show that, as previously found during laboratory studies, not all infected blood meals eventually give rise to mature trypanosome infections in the flies. The feeding conditions of populations of flies in the study areas were assessed, and the differences are explained in terms of food availability. The importance is stressed, of considering both the feeding preferences of the flies and the natural incidence of trypanosome infections in the wild game, in assessing the reservoir potential of any particular game species. In addition to the work on tsetse, a few Hippobosca longipenni; Fabricius were collected from darted lions and hyaenas. From over 200 dissected non carried live trypanosomes.

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