TY  - JOUR
T1  - Population Status and Habitat Choice of Hippopotamus (<I>Hippopotamus amphibious)</I> 
  at Gashaka Gumti National Park, Nigeria
AU - Buba, U. AU - , G.S. Mamman AU - , C. Maxwell AU - , B.W. Barau 
JO  - Journal of Fisheries International
VL  - 8
IS  - 2
SP  - 18
EP  - 24
PY  - 2013
DA  - 2001/08/19
SN  - 1817-3381
DO  - jfish.2013.18.24
UR  - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=jfish.2013.18.24
KW  - Population
KW  -habitat
KW  -hippopotamus amphibious
KW  -footprints
KW  -Gashaka
AB  - Hippopotamus <I>(Hippopotamus amphibious)</I> are nocturnal 
  animals thought to have an African or Asiatic origin. In African, most hippopotamus 
  are found in rivers throughout the savannah zone and main rivers of forest zone 
  in Central Africa and like any other large mammal, their problems differ from 
  one domain to the other involving human threats, such as habitat destruction, 
  hunting pressure and urbanization. This study was designed to determine the 
  population status and habitat choice of hippopotamus amphibious at Gashaka Gumti 
  National Park, Nigeria using Semi Structural Questionnaires (SSQ), footprints 
  count and direct observation methods. The results indicated that out of the 
  5 hippopotamus pools mentioned by the respondents, 3 (Mayo Jerandi, Mayo Karamti 
  and Mayo Kam) were observed to be fully functional hovering roughly &plusmn;4 
  individuals. However, the mode of occupancy differed significantly (p&lt;0.05) 
  between the 3 functional pools. Measured footprints suggested the presence of 
  both adults and infants (30x27, 31x28, 32x29 and 33x30 cm). Home range ranges 
  between 10<SUP>2</SUP> and 400 m<SUP>2</SUP> and pools were mostly sited in 
  the savannah areas (75%) cutting across the candidate rivers than the forested 
  regions (25%) of the Host Rivers. However, there was no significant difference 
  (p&lt;0.20, n = 102) in the depth of the 4 functional pools. Hippopotamus in 
  the study area spent most of their time with enormous fishes (54.5%) and therefore, 
  susceptible to regular disturbances due to controlled or uncontrolled fishing. 
  Based on the findings from this study, immediate and intensified conservation 
  effort is required through research and protection techniques to reduce or absolutely 
  eradicate further demise.
ER  -