THE KAFUE NATIONAL PARK By Gilbert Mwale

The Kafue National Park is the largest national park in Zambia, covering an area of about 22,480 km². It is the second largest park in Africa and is home to over 55 different species of animals.

The park is named for the Kafue River. It stretches over three provinces: North Western, Central and Southern. The main access is via the Great West Road from Lusaka to Mongu which crosses the park north of its centre. Seasonal dirt roads also link from Kalomo and Namwala in the south and south-east, and Kasempa in the north.

“The Park has nine Game Management areas (GMAs) that surround it except for two portions of Open Area along parts of the north-eastern and south-eastern boundary. The GMAs cover an area of approximately 45,406 km2 thereby creating a Protected Area of nearly 68,000 km2.” (Zambia Wildlife Authority, 2010)

 History of the Kafue National Park

“Kafue National Park is the oldest and largest National Park in Zambia. It was proclaimed on 28 April 1950 by Government Notice No. 108 of 1950 under the Game Ordinance, Chapter 106 of the Laws of Zambia. Its National Park status was underlined on 25 February 1972 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the original proclamation was revised on 16 April 1993, in Statutory Instrument No. 58 of 1993 establishing it as National Park No. 11.” (Zambia Wildlife Authority, 2010)

PURPOSE OF KAFUE NATIONAL PARK

The Kafue National Park has four main objectives or purposes which are to conserve the vast area of natural ecosystems which contains diverse wildlife as well as to protect cultural resources and sites. It also provides opportunities for tourism, conservation education and scientific research. It contributes to the socio-economic well-being of the surrounding local communities and Zambian people at large.

The park possesses nationally significant natural or cultural resources making it appropriate for direct management as a National Park instead of alternative protection by other land administering agencies or the private sector.

Animals

Kafue National Park has the greatest diversity of animal species found in any National Park in Zambia. All the large mammals naturally occurring in Zambia have been recorded except for giraffe, tsessebe and black rhinoceros; the latter was once widely distributed but has been extirpated. The diversity of mammals and birds in the Kafue National Park tends to be the major attraction of the Park for tourism. Examples of animals that can be found in the park include;

The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Classified under the family elephantidae, the African elephant is the largest land dwelling mammal. It grows continually throughout its life with the male weighing up to 7 tons and female at 4 tons. They have a lifespan of 50-60 years and a gestation period of 22 months, giving birth to only 1 offspring at a time. Young elephant drink water directly through the mouth but when they grow up the use their trunks instead. An adult elephant can drink as much as 200 litres of water per day.

The African Buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

This mammal belongs to the family bovidae. It can weigh up to 700-900 kg. The buffalo has a life span of 23 years and gestation period of 11 months giving birth to only 1 offspring. KNP has had a reputation for large herds of buffalo which occur on all the major Kafue river drainages.

Burchell’s Zebra (Equus zebra)

The zebra belongs to family equidae. Its weight ranges from 300-320kg. It has a lifespan of 20 years with a gestation period of 12 months. Their two types of zebra in the Africa that is the mountain zebra and common (Burchell’s) zebra the difference is that the mountain zebra has stripes running up to the legs while the common (Burchell’s) zebra does not. These animals do not have horn and so use kicks to defend themselves.

Carnivores

Since the Park has a large variety of prey species there is a diverse and well represented number of large predators. Lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), wild dog (Lycaon pictus) and side-striped jackal (Canis adustus) are known to occur throughout although information on distribution and densities is scarce. 

 Picture of a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)

Primates

Yellow baboon (Papio cynocephalus) is widely distributed and Chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) is recorded in the southern part of the Park only. Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus pygerythrus) is widely distributed as are the bush baby (Galago crassicaudatus) and night ape (Galago moholi).

CHALLENGES OF KAFUE NATIONAL PARK

Wildfire

The park had experienced frequent and unplanned fires since its prclaimation. The fires were usually caused by human activities namely poaching, drying fish and honey gathering.

Natural Disasters and Climate Change

Rarely, extreme weather conditions such as heavy torrential rain and extended drought can cause local flooding and heat waves with associated threats to the public. There is clear evidence that both natural and human-induced climate change is having an effect on global climate, with associated impacts on the environment and human welfare.

Park Boundary

KNP boundary is approximately 1000km. This boundary has not been cleared for more than two decades and signposts and beacons do not adequately show the boundary. Some problems associated with this issue are the settlements made by some local people, hunting in the park and fires that spread into the park from the outside.

Illegal off take of the Wildlife Resource

Illegal off take of the wild animals in this park had reached alarming levels in 1998 (ZAWA, 2004). Both subsistence and commercial illegal off take of wild animals took place in the park. The latter was the most serious as poachers used both sport and military weapons targeting the large animals. There was also the use of wire snares in poaching.

Tourism

Despite the great size of the park, which is renowned for its high diversity of fauna species and other features of interest, tourism has not developed to its potential. The construction of infrastructure and facilities has not been appropriately developed. The park has not been sufficiently promoted both locally and internationally. Some of the problems affecting tourism development in the park include lack of the tourism development plan, poor accessibility to and within the park, poaching reports, low animal population densities, lack of information and interpretative facilities, non-celebrity of the park and other factors such as poor communication.

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WARNING SIGNALS AND CHEMICAL DEFENCE OF ANIMALS By Adrian Kaluka

Escaping predation is essential to survival for most animals and has resulted in the evolution of an amazing diversity of predator avoidance tactics. Conspicuous coloration advertises anti-predator defense across many animals, including invertebrates, fish, amphibians, snakes and birds.

CHEMICAL DEFENCE

Many animals advertise their chemical defense to predators with conspicuous coloration and unpalatability. Chemical defenses are very common in reptile, insects, spiders and amphibians. Most harmless snakes put off predators by releasing a foul-smelling mixture of musk and faeces from their cloaca. They may wipe the stuff all over their bodies by turning in coils. The stuff does not just smell bad, it also tastes vile and is long-lasting.

A striped polecat, if threatened they turn their rump towards the aggressor with the back arched and tail erect , and as a result spray foul smelling fluid from anal glands. The fluid produces a burning sensation in the eyes.These mammals are indicating that they have a foul smelling defense and this is for the benefit of their enemies than can only see in shades of black and white.

Frogs and toads have poisonous glands that produce a foul tasting white substance used to deter possible enemies.

Snakes have venom which is spat or injected on the aggressor e.g. the spitting cobra. King cobra lifts itself 6 feet whilst hissing to frighten the aggressor.A large number of insects secrete a protective formic acid like ants and termites and many emit a strong and very unpleasant smell when disturbed or threatened.

A number of toads and frogs produce a foul tasting milky liquid in order to deter possible predators.

Spiders make use of venom when biting and when stringing. Many animals that make use of chemical defense often use warning signals to deter any possible attack from a predator.

Pangolins have an anal gland that secretes a substance that smells foul when it has seen a predator.

Warning coloration (aposematism) is effectively the opposite of camouflage. Its function is to make the animal highly conspicuous to potential predators, so that it is noticed, remembered and then avoided. Warning colors work by being associated by potential predators with something that makes the warning-coloured animal unpleasant or dangerous. This can be achieved in several ways by distasteful bitter-tasting chemicals in its blood, foul-smelling, for example the skunk can eject a liquid with a long-lasting and powerful odour and poisonous, for example a wasp can deliver a painful sting, while a viper can deliver a fatal bite.

Warning coloration can succeed either through inborn behaviour on the part of potential predators, or through a learned avoidance. 

EXAMPLE FOR CHEMICAL DEFENCE MECHANISM

Kingdom:                    Animalia

Phylum:                       Chordata

Order:                          Tubilidentata

Family:                        Orycteropodidae

Genus:                         Orycteropus

Species:                       afer

Scientific Name:         Orycteropusafer

Common Name:          Aardvark

Local Name:                Inengo (Bemba)

 

WARNING SIGNALS

Animals use color for signaling in several ways, includingwarning, to other animals not to attack and mimicry, taking advantage of another species' warning coloration.Color may divert attacks by startle, surprising a predator e.g. with eyespots or other flashes of color, and by dazzle, confusing a predator's attack by moving a bold pattern (such as zebra stripes) rapidly.

Some animals have evolved dazzle camouflage, whereby instead of attempting to conceal themselves, they are patterned to cause motion dazzle, confusing a predator during an attack, and making it harder to select and track a target. An example is zebras, which stand out in the savannah when stationary, but when moving rapidly, their stripes create a confusing, flickering mass in the eye of a predator such as a lion.

However, a warning signal is only effective when it can be generally recognized. For this reason, groups of poisonous animals all tend to converge on the same kinds of signal, for example, many stinging insects, such as bees and wasps, use the combination of yellow and black to give advance warning.

When large groups of poisonous animals all use the same warning colors to signal that they are poisonous and should not be interfered with, it sends a strong message to their potential predators. But, rather sneakily, the message can be hijacked by perfectly harmless animals that merely pretend to be poisonous.

For example, hoverflies have exactly the same color pattern as wasps but are completely inoffensive. In effect, the harmless creatures use the wasps' color pattern pretending to be
dangerous without actually being so to protect them. Warning colors: Some have conspicuous colors or patterns to advertise a venomous or distasteful nature. In nature, the same color combinations used in our traffic signs are used as warning colors. Red, yellow, black and white in various combinations signal "keep off!”.Many harmless snakes mimic the bright warning colors of venomous snakes especially if they share the same predator or territory.Animals that are brightly colored are warning their possible enemies that they may have a secret weapon that may be; an obnoxious smell, foul-tasting flesh, poison glands, a painful sting or venomous bite.

Displays of color and color-contrasts are found mainly in insects, snakes and other reptiles and in a few mammals.

Insects displaying bright colors do this due to the fact that their predators, which are usually birds, reptiles and some primates, are able to see in color.

EXAMPLE FOR WARNING SIGNALS FOR DEFENCE

Kingdom:                                Animalia

Phylum:                                   Chordata

Class:                                       Mammalia

Order:                                      Artiodactyla

Family:                                    Bovidae

Genus:                                     Syncerus

Species:                                   caffer

Tribe:                                       Bovini

Scientific Name:                     Synceruscaffer

Common Name:                      African Buffalo

Local Name:                            Imboo (Bemba), Njati( Chewa),Munyati Tonga)

LIMITATIONS

• The prey is at high risk of death or to be attacked if the predator ignores the chemical produced by the prey.

• Some predators such as lions do not have a good sense of sight so when they sense an animal; they will keep coming close until they attack and kill.

• Some animals have antihermorphage and antineurotoxin antibodies in their blood such that when they take on poisonous stuff it might not work e.g.Moongoses

• In coloration, animals might not blend well with the environment due to the fact of seasonal changes in vegetation hence prone to attacks.

• During rainy season, animals that produce chemicals may be affected because the chemicals are washed away by the rains e.g. A snake produces musk from its anal gland and in the process when the rains come all the musk will be washed away.

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THE EFFECTS OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE TODAY By Bryson Sompa

Continental drift is the slow movement of continents over the surface of Earth. The geological theory explaining continental drift is plate tectonics. The large, more or less rigid rafts of rock on which the continents float are called plates. Tectonics are any large-scale processes that shape Earth's crust, from the Greek tekton for “builder.” Earth-shaping processes that involve plates are therefore termed “plate tectonics.”

Over geological time—millions or billions of years— continental drift has a strong effect on climate, both local and global. Rearrangement of the layout of oceans and continents changes the ocean circulation pattern, leading to warming or cooling. In addition, the regional climate of land mass changes gradually as the land moves toward or away from the equator. When continents temporarily stick together in larger masses, climate is changed over large areas by shifted rainfall patterns (the interiors of large continents tend to be dry). Volcanoes, earthquakes, and the creation of mountain ranges are all caused by plate tectonics, and these can also affect regional or global climate. Volcanoes, for example, can affect climate by adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Continental Drift has affected the evolution of animals and distribution, the world’s geographical positions and the world's climates.  Originally all of the world's surface land was located in one region on the globe, Pangea. Then Pangaea split apart in the Triassic Period (245 to 208 million years ago) into a southern landmass, Gondwanaland, and the northern landmass Laurasia. By the end of the Cretaceous period, Continents split again into land masses that look like present day continents. 

Effects

The rearrangement and displacement of huge landmasses has helped create the diversity which we see present in modern day animals. Without these effects, the life present on earth today would have been very different. The earth is filled with so many different types of creatures. We can say that "Speciation" led to this amazing diversity. Speciation is a phenomenon that normally takes place when a group of animals of the same species find themselves isolated from one another. Isolation can occur geographically by great distances, rising mountains or large bodies of water. They can also occur from biological or behavioral barriers.

One species is distinguished from another by their inability to create viable offspring together, and this is the precise effect that isolation can have on an animal species. Once a group of animals of the same species becomes split apart or isolated, they begin to be changed, molded and fashioned by the hand of natural selection to more properly fit in with their surroundings. After a period of time these two groups begin to be so different anatomically and genetically that soon it becomes impossible for them to procreate. This inability for two animals that were once the same species, to create viable offspring is called speciation. An example of this is the differences between Placental and Marsupial mammals. Before 130 million B.C. the land mass of Gondwanaland was the home to many types of mammals. Thanks to plate tectonics it was split in two to create modern day South America and Australia. Any mammals called Gondwanaland their home and after it split, two very different types of mammals emerged. One kind of mammals were the placental mammals, the order to which they belong. And the other type is called Marsupial mammals; these evolved into modern day mammals like kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, wombats and Tasmanian devils. They have a pouch in which they carry their infant. But the point here is Marsupial mammals only exist in Australia, except for the opossum which is found in some parts of South America. The answer to this is that species were isolated geographically, and they started to evolve over times but differently because they did not live in the same environments and that is why you see the variety between placental and marsupial mammals.

The continental drift also drifted with resources, some minerals and oil are only found in specific areas. For example Zambia and Congo DR are the only countries in Africa with a lot of copper and Chile in Europe. Oil is mainly found in the Middle East.

Earthquakes and Tsunamis are caused by the movements of the plates. When a lateral slipping plate movement occurs, the pressure and the force from the collisions of this type of movement cause earthquakes to occur. This is more explained in my Types of Plate Movement section. This is very important because of the recent Tsunami devastations in south Asia. No one expected those Tsunamis to ever come. That is why it is crucial for scientists to study the effects of continental drifts to figure out ways to discover dangers of locations where these devastations could possibly occur. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost during this epidemic. We have to start figuring out ways to prepare ourselves from these types of disasters. And science is definitely the key to understanding the secrets of earthquakes.

It is believed that up now the earth has not rested; it still moves an inch after several years. Continental drift is the reason we have a diversity of species in the world today i.e. diversity of animal species and plant species. A lot of wildlife species are found in miombo forest and savannah which is in Africa but there are some wildlife species that are only found in Australia and Europe. Continental drift affected the climate and some species could not cope with the change in climate and hence they went into extinction. Some stronger species evolved and adapted to new environments. The continental drift, drifted with some species and these species could not return to their fellow families because of the barrier between them. The continental drift has caused lot disasters like earth quakes and tsunami.

 Share with us your experiences, comments and recommendations. Send emails to wildlifemgtsociety@gmail.com  OR brysonsompa@yahoo.com