| dc.description.abstract | The Serengeti-Maasai Mara ecosystem is a dynamic environment that is home to some of the last megafauna on earth, the world’s largest mammalian migration, and a diversity of human subsistence strategies. This research focuses on the spread of the disease malignant catarrhal fever from wildebeest calves in the northern part of the ecosystem to cattle belonging to Maasai pastoralists and how subsequent loss of cattle and avoidance of diseased areas affects Maasai livelihoods, attitudes toward wildebeest and conservation, and the behavior of wildebeest in the area. Understanding the attitudes local Maasai hold toward wildebeest and conservation, and the consequences of those attitudes on conservation success and wildebeest behavior, is critical to successful conservation of the wildebeest and the ecosystem that depends on them.
To investigate the attitudes and behaviors of Maasai pastoralists toward wildebeest and conservation, an online survey of 114 Kenyan Maasai people was conducted using social media. In order to inform the interpretation of attitudes on conservation, an email survey of 16 conservation practitioners who had worked or were currently working in Africa was conducted. In order to determine possible differences in wildebeest behavior in Maasai versus non-Maasai inhabited areas, behavioral data (collected by the Snapshot Serengeti Project and analysed by citizen scientists) in Enonkishu Conservancy in Kenya (a Maasai area) and Serengeti National Park in Tanzania (where Maasai are largely excluded) were compared.
The results of the survey of Maasai people indicated high levels of disturbance and livelihood loss due to the presence of wildebeest infected with malignant catarrhal fever. Respondents reported broad dislike and avoidance of wildebeest that strained their livelihoods and a strong desire for a malignant catarrhal fever vaccine. The survey of conservation practitioners indicated a great desire to work with local people and a broad belief that respondents were currently doing so. However, the conservation practitioner survey indicated involvement of local people as mainly peripheral members of conservation research—as drivers or guides. The Maasai survey indicated a desire among Maasai respondents to be involved on a deeper level with conservation (e.g., as educators and members of the research team). The wildebeest behavioral data showed wildebeest in Enonkishu Conservancy had significantly lower rates of standing, resting, eating, and interacting and significantly higher rates of moving. Though further study is needed to determine the exact cause, it does indicate a difference in behavior between the two sites.
Though this study was limited in the sample sizes of the two surveys and in the multiple differences between the two sites used for the wildebeest behavioral analysis, it has helped expound on the conservation encounter between wildebeest, Maasai pastoralists, and conservation efforts in Kenya. These results suggest that more cooperation between local Maasai and conservation personnel is needed for more effective conservation, and that a vaccine for malignant catarrhal fever could help support Maasai livelihoods. This study has also indicated that Maasai presence could be affecting wildebeest behavior. This could be critical in investigating the degree that wildebeest may adapt to changing conditions, such as human encroachment and climate change. | en_GB |
