Updates on population status of vultures in Nazinga Game Ranch, Burkina Faso

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Résumé

In the early 2000s, the ornithological community was alerted to the vulture population decline in West Africa. Since then, the situation of vultures in this area has not been updated, specifically in Burkina Faso’s protected areas.
To find out more, we used transect counts to explore the current status of vultures (species diversity, abundance) to be compared with previous counts in Nazinga Game Ranch, Burkina Faso. A total of 49 individuals from three species were recorded, the White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus (59.2%), Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus (38.8%) and White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis (2%). Two species previously recorded in small numbers were not detected: the Lappet-faced Torgos tracheliotos and the Rüppell’s Gyps rueppelli vultures. Between the 1970s and 2004, numbers of White-backed and Hooded vultures declined significantly from 19 to 4.4 and 16 to 7.7 individuals per 100 km, respectively, a decrease of 76.8% and 51.9%. Between 2004 and 2019, there was a slight increase from 4.4 to 11.9 in the number of White-backed Vultures and a relative stability in the number of Hooded Vultures. The populations of White-headed Vulture have continued to decrease from 6 to 1.9 individuals per 100 km between the 1970s and 2004 and then from 1.9 to 0.4 between 2004 and 2019. Our results reveal that Nazinga Game Ranch remains one of the bastions of resilience for vultures in Burkina Faso and offers a real opportunity for vulture conservation. The apparent growth post-2004 in the White-backed Vulture population suggests the increasing dependence of vultures on the protected area, given the increase in threats to vultures outside of protected areas. Continuing research in protected and unprotected areas is needed to update data at a national and regional scale to have a better assessment of vulture population trends. Regardless, it is imperative to urgently address the specific threats faced by each of these vulture species.

Mots-clés

Population, Socioeconomic status, Game reserve, Conservation status, Livestock