Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:20:56.006Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘The Fertile Brain and Inventive Power of Man’: Anthropogenic Factors in the Cessation of Springbok Treks and the Disruption of the Karoo Ecosystem, 1865–1908

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

Chris Roche
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The demise of springbok treks, the irruptive migration patterns of the species in South Africa's Karoo region, has long been attributed to the rinderpest epizootic understood to have coincided in both time and space with the last of the great springbok treks. This is incorrect. Instead the cessation of springbok treks can be attributed to a variety of anthropogenic factors. This article first examines and then rejects the case for rinderpest, before introducing alternative causal factors such as the increase in livestock and human populations, the effects of fencing and the double impact of hunting and concomitant drought. These factors, it is argued, acted in concert to effectively remove the conditions necessary for springbok treks and thereby end the phenomenon. It is suggested that the local extinction of this phenomenon – a keystone species and process – is an important and heretofore unconsidered element in the decline of the Karoo ecosystem.

On attribue depuis longtemps la disparition de la migration irruptive du springbok dans la région sud-africaine du Karoo à l'épizootie de peste bovine qui semble avoir coïncidé, temporellement et géographiquement, avec les dernières grandes migrations du springbok. C'est faux. En effet, on peut attribuer la fin de la migration du springbok à divers facteurs anthropogéniques. Cet article commence par examiner puis par rejeter l'argument de la peste bovine, avant de s'intéresser à d'autres facteurs causaux comme l'accroissement de la population humaine et du bétail, les conséquences des clôtures et le double impact de la chasse et de la sécheresse concomitante. Il soutient que ces facteurs ont agi de concert pour supprimer efficacement les conditions nécessaires à la migration du springbok et donc mettre fin à ce phénomène. L'article suggère que la disparition locale de ce phénomène (une espèce et un processus clés) est un élément important et jusqu'à présent négligé du déclin de l'écosystème du Karoo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 78 , Issue 2 , May 2008 , pp. 157 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acocks, J. P. H. (1953) ‘Veld types of South Africa’, Veld types of South Africa 28: 1–92.Google Scholar
Anon (1895) ‘Scab in springbucks’, Scab in springbucks 8 (5): 113–18.Google Scholar
Anon (1897) ‘Agriculture: reports and prospects’, Agriculture: reports and prospects 10 (13): 729–31.Google Scholar
Anon (1898a) ‘Agriculture: reports and prospects’, Agriculture: reports and prospects 13 (5): 237–43.Google Scholar
Anon (1898b) ‘Agriculture: reports and prospects’, Agriculture: reports and prospects 13 (6): 301–10.Google Scholar
Anon (1898c) ‘Agriculture: reports and prospects’, Agriculture: reports and prospects 13 (9): 493–502.Google Scholar
Anon (1899) ‘Agriculture: report and prospects’, Agriculture: report and prospects 14 (8): 477–80.Google Scholar
Beinart, W. (2003) The Rise of Conservation in South Africa: settlers, livestock and the environment 1770–1950. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengis, R. G., Grant, R. and de Vos, V. (2003) ‘Wildlife diseases and veterinary controls: a savanna ecosystem perspective’ in du Toit, J. T., Rogers, K. H. and Biggs, H. C. (eds), The Kruger Experience: ecology and management of savanna heterogeneity. Washington DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Bryden, H. A. (1889) Kloof and Karoo: sport, legend and natural history in Cape Colony with a notice of the game birds and of the present distribution of the antelopes and larger game. London: Longmans Green.Google Scholar
Cape Archives Depot (1902–1903) ‘Kenhardt distress’. CO 7750, 1810.Google Scholar
Cape Archives Depot (no date) ‘Anglo-Boer War. Group of Boers beside a trestle table loaded with Springbok carcasses. A covered wagon is in the background.’ Photograph. AG 2221.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1866) Census of the Cape, 1865. G. 20.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1867) ‘Report of the Select Committee appointed to consider and report on the Game Laws Bill’. A. 9.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1876) Census of the Cape, 1875. G. 42.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1892) Census of the Cape, 1891. G. 6.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1898) ‘Statistical Register: Livestock enumeration’.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope (1905) Results of a Census of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, 1904. G. 19.Google Scholar
A. J., Christopher (1976). Southern Africa. Folkestone: Dawson.Google Scholar
Constantine, R. J. (1996) ‘The Guerilla War in the Cape Colony during the South African War of 1899–1902: a case study of the republican and rebel commando movement’. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Cronwright-Schreiner, S. C. [1899] (1925) ‘The “trekbokke” (migratory springbucks); and the “trek” of 1896’, The Zoologist, reprinted in Cronwright-Schreiner, S. C., The Migratory Springbucks of South Africa (the Trekbokke): also an essay on the ostrich and a letter descriptive of the Zambezi Falls. London: Hamilton, Adams.Google Scholar
R. A. G., Davies and Skinner, J. D. (1986a) ‘Spatial utilization of an enclosed area of the Karoo by springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during drought’, Spatial utilization of an enclosed area of the Karoo by springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during drought 46: 115–32.Google Scholar
R. A. G., Davies and Skinner, J. D. (1986b) ‘Temporal activity patterns of springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during a Karoo drought’, Temporal activity patterns of springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during a Karoo drought 46: 133–47.Google Scholar
Davies, R. A. G., Botha, P. and Skinner, J. D. (1986) ‘Diet selected by springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during a Karoo drought’, Diet selected by springbok Antidorcas marsupialis and merino sheep Ovis aries during a Karoo drought 46: 165–76.Google Scholar
Davies, S. J. J. F. (1984) ‘Nomadism as a response to desert conditions in Australia’, Nomadism as a response to desert conditions in Australia 7: 183–95.Google Scholar
Dean, W. R. J. and MacDonald, I. A. W. (1994) ‘Historical changes in stocking rates of domestic livestock as a measure of semi-arid and arid rangeland degradation in the Cape Province, South Africa’, Historical changes in stocking rates of domestic livestock as a measure of semi-arid and arid rangeland degradation in the Cape Province, South Africa 26: 281–98.Google Scholar
Dean, W. R. J. and S. J., Milton (2001) ‘Responses of birds to rainfall and seed abundance in the southern Karoo, South Africa’, Responses of birds to rainfall and seed abundance in the southern Karoo, South Africa 47: 101–21.Google Scholar
Dean, W. R. J. and Roche, C. J. (2007) ‘Are historical references appropriate restoration targets for changed habitats in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa?’ in Milton, S. J. and Aronson, J. (eds), Restoring Natural Capital 1: developing countries of the south. Washington DC: Island Press.Google Scholar
Dean, W. R. J. and W. R., Siegfried (1997) ‘The protection of endemic and nomadic avian diversity in the Karoo, South Africa’, The protection of endemic and nomadic avian diversity in the Karoo, South Africa 27: 11–21.Google Scholar
Gilfoyle, D. (2002) ‘Veterinary Science and Public Policy at the Cape Colony, 1877–1910’. Unpublished D.Phil thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Gilfoyle, D. (2003) ‘Veterinary research and the African rinderpest epizootic: the Cape Colony, 1896–1898’, Veterinary research and the African rinderpest epizootic: the Cape Colony, 1896–1898 29 (1): 133–54.Google Scholar
Green, L. G. (1955) Karoo. Cape Town: Howard Timmins.Google Scholar
Henning, M. W. (1956) Animal Diseases in South Africa: being an account of the infectious diseases of domestic animals. South Africa: Central News Agency.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. T. and Cowling, R. M. (1990) ‘Vegetation change in the semiarid Karoo over the last 200 years: an expanding Karoo — fact or fiction?’, Vegetation change in the semiarid Karoo over the last 200 years: an expanding Karoo — fact or fiction? 86: 286–94.Google Scholar
Horsbrugh, B. (1912) The Game-birds and Waterfowl of South Africa. London: Witherby and Co.Google Scholar
Hutton, C. W. (ed.) (1887) The Autobiography of the Late Sir Andries Stockenstrom. Cape Town: J. C. Juta and Co.Google Scholar
Isenberg, A. C. (2000) The Destruction of the Bison: an environmental history, 1750–1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, N. (2002) ‘The colonial ecological revolution in South Africa: the case of Kuruman’ in Dovers, S., Edgecombe, R. and Guest, W. (eds), South Africa's Environmental History: cases and comparisons. Cape Town: David Philip.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, J. M. (1988) The Empire of Nature: hunting, conservation and British imperialism. New York: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
McNish, J. T. (1968) The Road to El Dorado. Cape Town: C. Struik.Google Scholar
Milton, S. J., Davies, R. A. G. and Kerley, G. I. H. (1999) ‘Population level dynamics’ in Dean, W. R. J. and Milton, S. J. (eds), The Karoo: ecological patterns and processes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nell, D. D. (1998) ‘“You Cannot Make the People Scientific by Act of Parliament”: farmers, the state, and livestock enumeration in the northwestern Cape, c. 1850–1900’. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Phoofolo, P. (1993) ‘Epidemics and revolutions: the rinderpest epidemic in late-nineteenth century South Africa’, Epidemics and revolutions: the rinderpest epidemic in late-nineteenth century South Africa 138: 112–43.Google Scholar
Phoofolo, P. (2004) ‘Zafa! Kwahlwa! Kwasa! African responses to the rinderpest epizootic in the Transkeian territories, 1897–8’, Zafa! Kwahlwa! Kwasa! African responses to the rinderpest epizootic in the Transkeian territories, 1897–8 30: 94–117.Google Scholar
Pringle, J. A. (1982) The Conservationists and the Killers. Cape Town: T. V. Bulpin and Books of Africa.Google Scholar
Roche, C. (2003) ‘“Fighting their battles o'er again”: the springbok hunt in Graaff-Reinet, 1860–1908’, “Fighting their battles o'er again”: the springbok hunt in Graaff-Reinet, 1860–1908 29: 86–108.Google Scholar
Roche, C. (2004) ‘“Ornaments of the Desert”: springbok treks in the Cape Colony, 1774–1908’. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Roche, C. (2005) “The springbok…drink the rain's blood”: indigenous knowledge and its use in environmental history—the case of the ‘Xam and an understanding of springbok treks’, South African Historical Journal 53: 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scully, W. C. (1898) Between Sun and Sand: a tale of an African desert. Cape Town: Juta.Google Scholar
Shaw, J. (1875) ‘On the changes going on in the vegetation of S. A. through the introduction of the Merino sheep’, On the changes going on in the vegetation of S. A. through the introduction of the Merino sheep 14: 202–8.Google Scholar
Skinner, J. D. (1993) ‘Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) treks’, Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) treks 48: 291–305.Google Scholar
Skinner, J. D. and Louw, G. N. (1996) The Springbok: Antidorcas marsupialis (Zimmermann, 1780). Pretoria: Transvaal Museum.Google Scholar
Skinner, J. D. and Smithers, R. H. N. (1990) The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Second edition. Pretoria: University of Pretoria.Google Scholar
Tyson, P. D. and Preston-Whyte, R. A. (2000) The Weather and Climate of Southern Africa. Second edition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Union of South Africa (1912) Census of the Union of South Africa, 1912. UG 32.Google Scholar
Union of South Africa (1927) Rainfall Normals up to the End of 1925: with an introduction and a brief summary of the rainfall of the Union of South Africa. UG 23.Google Scholar
van Onselen, C. (1972) ‘Reactions to rinderpest in southern Africa’, Reactions to rinderpest in southern Africa 15: 473–88.Google Scholar
van Sittert, L. (2002) ‘Holding the line: the rural enclosure movement in the Cape Colony, c. 1865–c. 1910’, Holding the line: the rural enclosure movement in the Cape Colony, c. 1865–c. 1910 43: 95–118.Google Scholar