Landscape heterogeneity and the use of space by elephants in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Abstract

Abstract Landscape heterogeneity may influence ranging behaviour of mammals. Here we relate the home range size of elephants living in the Kruger National Park to the number of patches, proportion of each patch, spatial arrangement of patches, patch shape, and contrast between neighbouring patches. Home range sizes decreased exponentially with an increase in the number of patches per 100 km 2 and the home range sizes of bulls were in general more strongly related to measures of heterogeneity. This may reflect differences in perception of heterogeneity between the sexes.