Remote monitoring of short‐term body mass variation in savanna ungulates

Large herbivores in seasonal environments often experience mass variation due to temporal changes the availability of critical resources like water and forage, as well breeding events. Yet documentation mammals highly savanna habitats, which host highest densities grazing ungulates globally, has rarely been explored. Here, we showcase a method evaluate bovids. Our used mineral-baited scales camera traps enable us track body three species through period wet dry seasons South African ecosystem. To illustrate one potential application method, related data time, weather resource availability. This showed that individuals altered their masses markedly between with, for example, female Kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) gaining, on average, >21 kg over 15-week wet-season 1 year. These were positively factors such vegetation productivity (assessed using NDVI) frequency rains. enables easy, non-lethal non-invasive acquisition data. The equipment is easy deploy concurrently large areas. Monitoring by this variety possible applications, potentially providing useful early-warning indicator condition inform management, or information about ecological states, parturition reproductive effort males. Given longer harsher experienced many arid systems recent decades, projected future, may provide straightforward means monitoring long-term animals result environmental change.