Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:24:36.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Persecuted Black Lechwe of Zambia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

R. H. V. Bell  and
J. J. R. Grimsdell
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The black lechwe of northern Zambia are today confined entirely to one area, the Bangweulu floodplain. Numbers have shrunk from more than half-a-million as recently as 50 years ago to an estimated 16,000 today. The authors, who have been engaged in a 3½-year research project on these lechwe, are able to show that the numbers today are well below the carrying capacity of the floodplains, and that poaching is the cause. The highly specialised lechwe is the only mammal capable of exploiting the high fertility of the floodplain, which could support ten times the present numbers. Allowed to increase and properly managed on sustained yield principles, the black lechwe could provide a large quantity of badly needed protein in Zambia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , May 1973 , pp. 77 - 92
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1973

References

REFERENCES

Allen, L.D.C. 1963. The lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) of the Bangweulu Swamps. Puku 1, 1–8.Google Scholar
Brelsford, W.V. 1944. Vanishing lechwe of Bangweulu. The Field, London.Google Scholar
Brelsford, W.V. 1946. Fishermen of the Bangweulu Swamps. Rhodes-Livingstone Institute, Livingstone.Google Scholar
Grimsdell, J.J.R. & Bell, R.H.V. 1970. Report of a census on the Kafue lechwe, 12th-15th October 1970. Cyclostyled report to the Wildlife Dept.Google Scholar
Grimsdell, J.J.R. & Bell, R.H.V. 1972. Population growth of red lechwe, Kobus leche leche (Gray), in the Busanga Plain, Zambia. E. Afr. Wildl. J. 10. 117–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, G. 1954. Some notes on the Bangweulu area and its black lechwe population between December, 1922 and January, 1929. In a report by C.W. Benson, 1955, GAM 10/Lechwe, Wildlife Department of Zambia files.Google Scholar
Hughes, J.E. 1933. Eighteen years on Lake Bangweulu. The Field, London.Google Scholar
Inoue, K. 1971. Frame survey on Lake Bangweulu. Preliminary report. Typescript report, U.N./F.A.O. Central Fisheries Research Institute, Chilanga.Google Scholar
Kaunda, K. 1968. Humanism in Zambia and a guide to its implementation. Government Printer, Lusaka.Google Scholar
Kaunda, K. 1969. Report of the Second National Convention. Rural development, incomes, wages and prices in Zambia. Policy and machinery. Government Printer, Lusaka.Google Scholar
Marshall, H.C. 1957. Water transport in the Bangweulu Swamps. Northern Rhodesian Journal, 3 (3), 189–199.Google Scholar
Pitman, C.R.S. 1934. A report on a faunal survey of Northern Rhodesia with special reference to game, elephant control and National Parks. Government Printer, Livingstone.Google Scholar
Robinette, W.L. & Child, G.F.T. 1964. Notes on biology of the lechwe (Kobus leche) Puku 2, 84–117.Google Scholar
Savory, C.R. 1957. Conservation of lechwe for native nutrition in Northern Province. GAM. 10/Lechwe, Wildlife Department of Zambia files.Google Scholar
Vesey-Fitzgerald, D.F. 1955. The black lechwe and modern methods of wildlife conservation. Northern Rhodesia Journal, 2 (6), 25–32.Google Scholar
Vincent, J. 1969. The status of the square-lipped rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum simum (Burchell), in Zululand. Lammergeyer, 10. 12–21.Google Scholar