Management Strategies for the Utilization of Southern African Savanna

Abstract

Savanna vegetation in southern Africa evolved in the presence of a sparse human population and multispecies populations of herbivores, which included grazing, browsing, rooting and debarking animals with a wide range of diet preferences and feeding patterns. From modern studies of wild herbivores and historical records it is clear that the types of animals present, the proportions of the different species, and the total herbivore biomass varied in different vegetation types and regions. Many species were migratory and patterns of movement were largely determined by changes in the amount and quality of the food supply, and, in the case of most species, supplies of drinking water.