Herbivore load by habitat
Of the 67,100 records of herbivores (grazers and mixed-feeders) captured
by camera traps over the study period, the majority were from perennial
rivers (43,195 records; 64.4%), while seasonal rivers experienced an
intermediate herbivore load (18, 961 records; 28.2%), and the fewest
herbivores were recorded at crests (4,944 records; 7.4%). We recorded
seven species of grazers (buffalo, hippo, tsessebe, waterbuck, white
rhino, wildebeest, and zebra) and six mixed-feeders (common duiker,
eland, elephant, impala, nyala, and sable antelope; Table 1). The most
common herbivore was impala, accounting for more than half of all
records (38,154 records; 54.1%), followed by elephant (11,644 records;
16.5%) and buffalo (4,616; 6.6%). The abundances of all herbivore
species across habitats are shown in Fig 3. Species that occurred in the
greatest number of plots were elephant (58 plots, i.e., 98.3% of the
total of 60 monitored), impala (56 plots; 93.3%) and buffalo (52 plots;
86.7%). Species with only a few records (tsessebe = 8, sable antelope =
7, and eland = 2) were excluded from analyses (Table 1).