Jm. Bowland et Ri. Yeaton, IMPACT OF DOMESTICATED AFRICAN ELEPHANTS LOXODONTA-AFRICANA ON NATAL BUSHVELD, South African Journal of Wildlife Research, 27(2), 1997, pp. 31-36
Browse preferences of African elephants Loxodonfa africana in Natal bu
shveld which had not experienced elephant utilisation since 1860 were
determined and used to anticipate likely changes in the woody vegetati
on community following elephant re-introduction. Elephants were observ
ed to feed on 31 species of trees and woody shrubs during the course o
f the study but their efforts were concentrated on 10 species for whic
h over 80% of the feeding events and 85% of the bites taken were recor
ded. Generally,diet selection was for Acacia caffra and broad-leafed w
oodland species belonging to later successional stages whilst earlier
successional species, Such as A. nilotica, were less utilised. During
the course of the study, 25 trees were pushed over. Eighty percent of
these were members of later successional stages. Single-stemmed trees
were more often felled than multi-stemmed species. Our results suggest
that the use of Natal bushveld vegetation by elephants in the absence
of fire will result in a dense, early successional, multi-stemmed sta
nd of woody species instead of an open grassland or a broad-leafed ope
n woodland community.