Sixteen carnivore species were detected by camera traps over 43 days in August-October 2018, six more than in the previous assessment.
In 2015, Dr Lourens Swanepoel conducted a survey of the predators using Verloren Valei, as reported in The Wetlander (read the original article, “Verloren Valei: Starting to tell the predator stor[JvdH1] y”. Three years later, he and Daan Locock from the University of the Free State followed up with a second study. Using the 2015 study as a baseline, they were able to produce an expanded list of the small carnivores whose images were captured in the camera traps.
New species recorded were:
- African civet
- Large spotted genet
- Striped polecat
- Slender mongoose
- Aardwolf
- Small spotted cat
All of these are listed as “Least concern” in the Red Data List, barring the Small spotted cat, which is “near threatened”. Read the full scientific report here.
