Activity and nocturnal home range size of male common hippopotamus in Kruger National Park, South Africa

Abstract

The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a driver of ecological processes in African savannah aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent studies have highlighted the ecological impacts of hippos in these systems; however, these lack behavioural data to contextualise their ecological inputs. We fitted global positioning system (GPS) transmitter bracelets on male hippos (n = 3) in Kruger National Park, South Africa. The mean home range size for hippos using Adaptive Local Convex Hull (a-LoCoH) home range (~6 km2) was smaller than previously documented. This study contributes baseline behavioural data for managing hippos in Kruger National Park and southern Africa.