Sharp, T., & Saunders, G. mustering of feral horses.
Abstract: Background
Feral horses (Equus caballus) can cause significant environmental damage and losses to
rural industries. Although considered pests, feral horses are also a resource, providing
products such as pet meat for the domestic market and meat for human consumption
for the export market. Control methods include trapping, mustering exclusion fencing,
ground shooting and shooting from helicopters.
Feral horses are mustered by helicopter, motorbike or on horseback, sometimes with the
assistance of coacher horses. Once mustered into yards, net traps or fenced paddocks, the
horses are usually sold to abattoirs for slaughter which can offset the costs of capture and
handling. Less commonly, they are sold as riding horses or relocated to reserves or horse
sanctuaries. Where there is no market for them or where removal may be too costly or
impractical e.g. in conservation areas or remote areas without access to transportation,
horses are sometimes destroyed by shooting in the yards.
This standard operating procedure (SOP) is a guide only; it does not replace or
override the legislation that applies in the relevant State or Territory jurisdiction.
The SOP should only be used subject to the applicable legal requirements (including
OH&S) operating in the relevant jurisdiction.
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Giraldeau, L. - A. (1997). The ecology of information use. In J. R. Krebs, & N. B. Davies (Eds.), Behavioural ecology : an evolutionary approach. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Science.
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Wasser, S. K., Keim, J. L., Taper, M. L., & Lele, S. R. (2011). The influences of wolf predation, habitat loss, and human activity on caribou and moose in the Alberta oil sands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, .
Abstract: Woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) and moose (Alces alces) populations in the Alberta oil sands region of western Canada are influenced by wolf (Canis lupus) predation, habitat degradation and loss, and anthropogenic activities. Trained domestic dogs were used to locate scat from caribou, moose, and wolves during winter surges in petroleum development. Evidence obtained from collected scat was then used to estimate resource selection, measure physiological stress, and provide individual genetic identification for precise mark–recapture abundance estimates of caribou, moose, and wolves. Strong impacts of human activity were indicated by changes in resource selection and in stress and nutrition hormone levels as human-use measures were added to base resource selection models (including ecological variables, provincial highways, and pre-existing linear features with no human activity) for caribou. Wolf predation and resource selection so heavily targeted deer (Odocoileus virginiana or O hemionus) that wolves appeared drawn away from prime caribou habitat. None of the three examined species showed a significant population change over 4 years. However, caribou population estimates were more than double those of previous approximations for this area. Our findings suggest that modifying landscape-level human-use patterns may be more effective at managing this ecosystem than intentional removal of wolves.
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Boitani, L. (1982). Patterns of homesites attendance in two Minnesota wolf packs. In F. H. Harrington, & P. C. Paquet (Eds.), Wolves of the World: Perspectives of Behavior, Ecology and Conservation. New York: Noyes, Park Ridge.
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Jedrzejewski, W., Schmidt, K., Theuerkauf, J., Jedrzejewska, B., Selva, N., & Zub, K. (2002). Kill rate and predation by wolves on ungulate populations in Bialowieza primeval forest (Poland). Ecology, 83.
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Amodio, P., Boeckle, M., Schnell, A. K., Ostojic, L., Fiorito, G., & Clayton, N. S. (2018). Grow Smart and Die Young: Why Did Cephalopods Evolve Intelligence? Trends. Ecol. Evol., .
Abstract: Intelligence in large-brained vertebrates might have evolved through independent, yet similar processes based on comparable socioecological pressures and slow life histories. This convergent evolutionary route, however, cannot explain why cephalopods developed large brains and flexible behavioural repertoires: cephalopods have fast life histories and live in simple social environments. Here, we suggest that the loss of the external shell in cephalopods (i) caused a dramatic increase in predatory pressure, which in turn prevented the emergence of slow life histories, and (ii) allowed the exploitation of novel challenging niches, thus favouring the emergence of intelligence. By highlighting convergent and divergent aspects between cephalopods and large-brained vertebrates we illustrate how the evolution of intelligence might not be constrained to a single evolutionary route.
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Hofmeester, T. R., Cromsigt, J. P. G. M., Odden, J., Andrén, H., Kindberg, J., & Linnell, J. D. C. (2019). Framing pictures: A conceptual framework to identify and correct for biases in detection probability of camera traps enabling multi-species comparison. Ecol Evol, .
Abstract: Abstract Obtaining reliable species observations is of great importance in animal ecology and wildlife conservation. An increasing number of studies use camera traps (CTs) to study wildlife communities, and an increasing effort is made to make better use and reuse of the large amounts of data that are produced. It is in these circumstances that it becomes paramount to correct for the species- and study-specific variation in imperfect detection within CTs. We reviewed the literature and used our own experience to compile a list of factors that affect CT detection of animals. We did this within a conceptual framework of six distinct scales separating out the influences of (a) animal characteristics, (b) CT specifications, (c) CT set-up protocols, and (d) environmental variables. We identified 40 factors that can potentially influence the detection of animals by CTs at these six scales. Many of these factors were related to only a few overarching parameters. Most of the animal characteristics scale with body mass and diet type, and most environmental characteristics differ with season or latitude such that remote sensing products like NDVI could be used as a proxy index to capture this variation. Factors that influence detection at the microsite and camera scales are probably the most important in determining CT detection of animals. The type of study and specific research question will determine which factors should be corrected. Corrections can be done by directly adjusting the CT metric of interest or by using covariates in a statistical framework. Our conceptual framework can be used to design better CT studies and help when analyzing CT data. Furthermore, it provides an overview of which factors should be reported in CT studies to make them repeatable, comparable, and their data reusable. This should greatly improve the possibilities for global scale analyses of (reused) CT data.
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Hunt, G. R., Gray R.D., & Taylor, A. H. (2013). Why is tool use rare in animals? (Boesch C C. J. anz C, Ed.). Cambridge, MA.: Cambridge University Press.
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Anderson, G. D., & Talbot, L. M. (1965). Soil factors affecting distribution of the grassland types and their utilization by wild animals on the Serengeti Plains. J Ecol, 53, 1.
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Dellert, B., & Ganslosser, U. (1997). Experimental alterations of food distribution in two species of captive equids (Equus burchelli and E. hemionus kulan). Ethol Ecol Evol, 9(1), 1–17.
Abstract: n one group each of Plains zebra (six mares, one foal, one subadult) and Asiatic wild asses (seven mares, two foals) at Nuremberg Zoo, food distribution was experimentally changed from clumped (all food in one standard hay rack) to dispersed (one heap per animal). Both groups were characterized by different social structures, which basically remained during the experiment. Plains zebras had an individually structured system of social relationships in a dominance order, wild asses a more egalitarian system without clear-cut rank differences and low frequencies of agonistic interactions. Access to food accordingly was individually (but consistently) different for zebra mares, almost equal for wild ass mares. During the dispersed feeding situation frequencies of agonistic interactions in both species decreased (however non-significantly), individual distances increased but mares also frequently ''visited'' each others' heaps. Feeding time increased for all wild ass mares. Some individuals (in both groups) behaved ''against the trend'' in agonistic behaviour. The results are discussed with regard to food distribution for ungulates in general, and equid social systems.
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