AERIAL SURVEYS IN THE STUDY OF ANIMAL POPULATIONS AND RANGE CONDITIONS

Abstract

For the past decade, low altitude aerial surveys have been used for counting large mammals, especially wildlife, over extensive areas of land in East Africa. The facilities and methods suitable in East African conditions are not directly applicable to West Africa because of the dense savanna wood land vegetation, which limits the visibility of the animals, and the Harmattan dust, which makes accurate navigation difficult. The Department of Forest Resources Management, University of Ibadan, has been engaged in a pioneering project of censusing large mammals from the air in Lake Kainji National Park. A high wing, single engine, four seater aircraft was used to overfly the 4,000 sq. km. reserve. The aircraft cruised at 159 kph at a height of 120 meters. Large mammals were counted and the vegetation types and range conditions were also recorded. This rapid and relatively low cost technique could suitably be applied to the study of free ranging cattle in the savanna areas of Nigeria. Such a survey would yield information on the total number of animals, their distribution patterns and their habitat utilization.