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Post from Rich: Wild Buffalo Operation
In August we undertook one of our most exciting operations this year—testing our wild African buffalo for bovine tuberculosis. Thirty years ago, when Gorongosa had more than 14,000 buffalo roaming the plains, TB was fairly widespread in the population. Our hope was that the catastrophic loss of buffalo from the Park (we now have only 70 in the wild) would have led to the eradication of TB in the population through a sort of “survival of the fittest” process, so that we could rebuild a “clean” population in the Park for the future. Under the leadership of our Head Veterinarian Carlos Lopes Pereira and with the tremendous support of the Veterinary team from Kruger National Park and their skilled helicopter pilot Grant, we managed to test 50 buffalo for TB. To our great relief and excitement, all tested negative.
The operation involved rounding up and darting small groups of about 8-12 buffalo at a time from the air by helicopter; followed by a team of us racing in on the ground to blindfold each sedated buffalo, determine their sex and age (based on tooth development and wear), collect blood samples and parasites, photograph and number them (using temporary paint), and attach tracking collars on selected individuals. Each operation was done in about 25 minutes, after which a counteracting drug was administered to revive the animals before they experienced too much heat or other stresses.
Our Gorongosa buffalo are absolutely massive (we call them “gordissimo” in Portuguese —obese). The largest male we darted weighed nearly a metric tonne (more than 2000 lbs). Gorongosa has some of the most productive grasslands in all of Africa, and relatively few herbivores, so those that survived here are feasting. In other words, you might say that Gorongosa is a buffalo restaurant built to serve 14,000 but is currently seating about 70!
We will be using the GSM/GPS tracking collars, which are now sending us the location of each collared buffalo 4x a day through the cell phone network, to study the reestablishment of buffalo at Gorongosa in detail. My colleague Carlos Bento, whom I have worked with for more than 12 years in Mozambique, will be undertaking this work for his PhD. We will be able to track buffalo movements and understand where, when, why, and how they are selecting their feeding, watering, wallowing, resting, and sleeping areas in the Park. 
We will also be placing collars on the new buffalo we introduce to the Park, as well as zebra, wildebeest, and other species. Collectively, we will gain a great understanding about how the “grazing succession” of Gorongosa is recreated overtime as these wildlife populations recover, how different species (especially rare herbivores) are affected by the recovery of the big “bulk grazers” like buffalo and zebra, how our carnivores (especially the famous Gorongosa lions) respond to the recovery of these large prey species, and so on. We hope to gain invaluable new insights into restoration ecology and wildlife management that we will share throughout the world.
In August we undertook one of our most exciting operations this year—testing our wild African buffalo for bovine tuberculosis. Thirty years ago, when Gorongosa had more than 14,000 buffalo roaming the plains, TB was fairly widespread in the population. Our hope was that the catastrophic loss of buffalo from the Park (we now have only 70 in the wild) would have led to the eradication of TB in the population through a sort of “survival of the fittest” process, so that we could rebuild a “clean” population in the Park for the future. Under the leadership of our Head Veterinarian Carlos Lopes Pereira and with the tremendous support of the Veterinary team from Kruger National Park and their skilled helicopter pilot Grant, we managed to test 50 buffalo for TB. To our great relief and excitement, all tested negative.
The operation involved rounding up and darting small groups of about 8-12 buffalo at a time from the air by helicopter; followed by a team of us racing in on the ground to blindfold each sedated buffalo, determine their sex and age (based on tooth development and wear), collect blood samples and parasites, photograph and number them (using temporary paint), and attach tracking collars on selected individuals. Each operation was done in about 25 minutes, after which a counteracting drug was administered to revive the animals before they experienced too much heat or other stresses.
Our Gorongosa buffalo are absolutely massive (we call them “gordissimo” in Portuguese —obese). The largest male we darted weighed nearly a metric tonne (more than 2000 lbs). Gorongosa has some of the most productive grasslands in all of Africa, and relatively few herbivores, so those that survived here are feasting. In other words, you might say that Gorongosa is a buffalo restaurant built to serve 14,000 but is currently seating about 70!
We will be using the GSM/GPS tracking collars, which are now sending us the location of each collared buffalo 4x a day through the cell phone network, to study the reestablishment of buffalo at Gorongosa in detail. My colleague Carlos Bento, whom I have worked with for more than 12 years in Mozambique, will be undertaking this work for his PhD. We will be able to track buffalo movements and understand where, when, why, and how they are selecting their feeding, watering, wallowing, resting, and sleeping areas in the Park. 
We will also be placing collars on the new buffalo we introduce to the Park, as well as zebra, wildebeest, and other species. Collectively, we will gain a great understanding about how the “grazing succession” of Gorongosa is recreated overtime as these wildlife populations recover, how different species (especially rare herbivores) are affected by the recovery of the big “bulk grazers” like buffalo and zebra, how our carnivores (especially the famous Gorongosa lions) respond to the recovery of these large prey species, and so on. We hope to gain invaluable new insights into restoration ecology and wildlife management that we will share throughout the world.
