Successful conservation of species that roam and disperse over large areas requires detailed understanding of their movement patterns and connectivity between subpopulations. But empirical information on movement, space use, and connectivity is lacking for many species, and data acquisition is often hindered when study animals cross international borders. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) exemplifies such species that require vast undisturbed areas to support viable, self‐sustaining populations. To study wild dog dispersal and investigate potential barriers to movements and causes of mortality during dispersal, between 2016 and 2019 we followed the fate of 16 dispersing coalitions (i.e., same‐sex group of ≥1 dispersing African wild dogs) in northern Botswana through global positioning system (GPS)‐satellite telemetry. Dispersing wild dogs covered ≤54 km in 24 hours and traveled 150 km to Namibia and 360 km to Zimbabwe within 10 days. Wild dogs were little hindered in their movements by natural landscape features, whereas medium to densely human‐populated landscapes represented obstacles to dispersal. Human‐caused mortality was responsible for >90% of the recorded deaths. Our results suggest that a holistic approach to the management and conservation of highly mobile species is necessary to develop effective research and evidence‐based conservation programs across transfrontier protected areas, including the need for coordinated research efforts through collaboration between national and international conservation authorities. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

中文翻译：

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非洲野狗的传播及其对管理的启示

要成功地保护在大面积上漫游和散布的物种，需要详细了解它们的运动方式和亚种群之间的连通性。但是许多物种缺乏有关运动，空间利用和连通性的经验信息，当研究动物越过国际边界时，数据采集常常受到阻碍。非洲野狗（Lycaon pictus）就是此类物种的例证，这些物种需要广阔的未扰动区域来维持生存，自给自足的种群。为了研究野狗的传播并调查传播过程中潜在的移动障碍和死亡原因，我们追踪了2016年至2019年博茨瓦纳北部16个散布联盟（即，分布着1个以上非洲散布野狗的同性组）在全球范围内的命运。定位系统（GPS）卫星遥测。分散的野狗在24小时内覆盖了≤54公里，并在10天内到达了纳米比亚150公里，到津巴布韦360公里。野狗的运动很少受到自然景观特征的阻碍，而中至密集的人为景观则代表了传播的障碍。人为造成的死亡占记录的死亡的90％以上。我们的研究结果表明，对于跨界保护区开展有效的研究和循证保护计划，包括对国家和国际保护当局之间的协作进行协调研究的必要性，必须采用整体方法来管理和保护高度流动的物种。©2020野生动物协会。