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

Bibliographic Data

ID2620105
AuthorsChris Roche (0000-0001-9879-5769, corresponding author), Chris Roche Chris Roche
Year2008
Volume78
Issue2
Pages157-188
Publication date2008-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1353/afr.0.0007
OpenAlexW4239882547
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited12

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

Biology · Demise · Extinction (optical mineralogy · Geography · Political science · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Ecology · Law · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub