Armed conflict and development in South Sudan threatens some of Africa’s longest and largest ungulate migrations

摘要: Many terrestrial mammalian migrations are disappearing before they documented. The Boma-Jonglei ecosystem in South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest and most conflicted countries, contains some largest, longest, least studied ungulate migrations. A rapidly increasing human population, ongoing armed conflict, looming oil development, however, threatens migration 800,000 white-eared kob (Kobus leucotis) 160,000 tiang (Damaliscus lunatus tiang) this system. To document these identify potential conflicts, we examined movements ungulates using data from 14 collared individuals (12 kob, 2 tiang). We identified two separate dry season ranges kob; each, initiated with onset rainy season, migrated to a shared range also by tiang. maximum straight-line distance between telemetry locations (399 km) (298 km) on their indicated were among longest Africa. was 68,805 km2, 29% which within national parks 72% leased concessions (54–83% overlap concessions). (35,992 km2) occurred almost entirely (> 99%) land companies. Because disruption or elimination will inevitably lead significant population reductions, maintenance routes through additional protection measures essential conserve largest aggregations world.