Livestock-wildlife conflicts in the Ethiopian highlands: assessing the dietary and spatial overlap between mountain nyala and cattle

Livestock grazing is an increasing conservation challenge throughout protected wildlife areas in Africa. We report here on a negative correlation in abundance between cattle and the mountain nyala across seven study areas in the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, and investigate if this can be explained by similarity in feeding ecology and spatial overlap. Mountain nyala foraging behaviour was studied using scan sampling of 17 GPS/VHF-collared animals, while faecal sampling of both species was used to quantify abundance and spatial overlap. We found that female and male mountain nyala grazed during 87% and 50% of the feeding observations respectively. Although mountain nyala has earlier been classified as a browser, our findings indicate a feeding ecology closer to a grazer. The overall spatial overlap between mountain nyala and cattle was 22%, with a range of 2.4–100% among areas, and illegal cattle grazing was common. Based on the negative correlation in abundance, the similarity in feeding ecology and the relatively high spatial overlap we speculate that a competitive interaction between mountain nyala and cattle might occur. Our findings points to the potential for existence of a wildlife-cattle conflict also in the Ethiopian highlands, as frequently reported in savannah ecosystems.