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Juvik, J., Kiester, R. A., Nguasananongombe, K., Gessert, L., & Schleicher, A. , The diverse tortoise fauna of hyper-arid southern namibia: emerging conservation opportunities at the meta-landscape scale. Unpublished paper presented at Thirty-second annual meeting and symposium. 
Added by: Admin (25 Aug 2010 21:58:49 UTC)
Resource type: Conference Paper
BibTeX citation key: Juvik2007a
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Categories: General
Keywords: Chersina, Chersina angulata, Fressfeinde = predators, Habitat = habitat, Homopus, Homopus signatus, Psammobates, Psammobates oculiferus, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises, Stigmochelys, Stigmochelys pardalis, Südafrika = Southern Africa, Testudinidae
Creators: Gessert, Juvik, Kiester, Nguasananongombe, Schleicher
Collection: Thirty-second annual meeting and symposium
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Abstract     
Testudinidae A comparatively small (approx 10,000,000 ha), hyper-arid region of Southern Namibia located between 26oS and the Orange River border with South Africa is home to 5, or possibly 6, different land tortoise species. The distributions of several of these taxa (Chersina angulata, Psammobates tentoricus and likely, Homopus signatus) represent generally low density, peripheral populations for species whose core ranges lay in the adjoining Cape Province of South Africa. Two additional species (Geochelone pardalis and Psammobates oculiferus) are more widely distributed throughout Namibia and adjacent areas of southern Africa. The as yet undescribed "Nama-padloper" (Homopus sp.), is a small, poorly known, rock-dwelling tortoise apparently endemic to southwestern Namibia. At present nature tourism is a rapidly expanding sector of the Namibian economy. The relative strength of this sector has provided the impetus for development of “guest farms” and the reversion of under-performing/failed ranching operations back to native game stocking. The local tortoise fauna should be a direct beneficiary of this trend toward farm consolidation and native wildlife reorientation. In addition, government plans to create a new national park from the 2,600,000 ha Sperrgebeit (the historic “Forbidden Zone” of alluvial diamond mining) will provide additional conservation opportunities. One of us (Gessert) has launched a private sector initiative to acquire a series of adjacent, failed farms that will provide a corridor, extending over 100 km and incorporating more than 200,000 ha, to link the Sperrgebeit with the Fish River National Park to the east. This combined area will capture much of the known range of endemic Nama-padloper (Homopus sp.) in addition to significant populations of Psammobates tentoricus we have recently discovered that are morphologically distinct from the expected regional subspecies ‘trimeni’. Although all Namibian tortoise species are formally protected under domestic wildlife legislation, there exists the standard litany of threats to existing tortoise populations, with widespread habitat degradation at the forefront. In the south of Namibia a legacy of severe overgrazing (cattle, sheep and goats) is associated with the establishment of large pastoral farms beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on marginal desert lands (average annual rainfall of 50-100mm/year.) Other adverse consequences of ranching activities for tortoises may include indirect predator subsidy (e.g. crows & baboons) through the widespread provision of stock watering facilities (wells, dams and tanks) in areas with no natural (perennial) surface water resources. Tortoises, particularly the largest species Geochelone pardalis, are still consumed as traditional food by some rural segments of the indigenous human population. Thus far, Namibian tortoises have not been significantly impacted by the clandestine international pet or Asian food trade, but there have been some recent disturbing incidents. Anecdotal accounts of European “tourists” offering money for tortoises have surfaced, as well as reports of reptile “collecting” by elements of a new and growing immigrant Chinese entrepreneurial community in the nation’s capital, Windhoek.
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