Elsevier

Journal of Arid Environments

Volume 134, November 2016, Pages 62-65
Journal of Arid Environments

Short communication
Movement patterns of soft-released, translocated Egyptian tortoises

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2016.07.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Dispersal and mortality are undesirable outcomes of wildlife translocations.

  • Soft-release translocations force animals to remain at release site prior to release.

  • Retention-rate of soft-released translocated Egyptian tortoises was relatively high.

  • Soft-released and resident tortoises had similar movement patterns.

  • Soft-released translocations minimized dispersal and increased retention.

Abstract

Dispersal from the release site and high mortality are two main factors that contribute to low retention of hard-released translocated wildlife. A soft-release translocation is a method that may increase the likelihood of translocation success because individuals are forced to acclimatize and become familiar to the new release site prior to the translocation. The objective of this study was to compare the movement patterns and retention rate of resident and translocated Egyptian tortoises that were translocated just prior to the start of the aestivation season and therefore were forced to aestivate at the release site (a forced in-activity soft-release). The retention rate of translocated tortoises, the proportion of tortoises that remained at the release site and alive by the end of the study, was 71% (5/7) compared to a retention rate of 100% for resident tortoises. There was no significant difference in the minimum convex polygon area, total distance moved, or the number of relocations during the activity season between resident and translocated tortoises. Our results suggest that a forced in-activity soft release consisting of translocating Egyptian tortoises just before the aestivation season may be effective in minimizing dispersal from the release site.

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Zaranik Protected Area, S. Osman, and the staff and the local community trackers of Zaranik Protected Area for logistical support and field assistance. We would like to thank Sherif Baha El Din for his constructive criticism on the manuscript. The Egyptian tortoise conservation and this research has been a by-product of recent funding at different stages from the Woodland Park Zoo, European Studbook Foundation, Dutch–Belgium

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