Conflict-benefit Relationships between Humans and Small African Carnivores: A Continent-wide Perspective

African small carnivores, terrestrial species with adult body mass < 15 kg, constitute a diverse assemblage representing nearly 35% of the globe’s extant small carnivore species. Despite this diversity, relatively little is... [ view full abstract ]

African small carnivores, terrestrial species with adult body mass < 15 kg, constitute a diverse assemblage representing nearly 35% of the globe’s extant small carnivore species. Despite this diversity, relatively little is known about human-wildlife interactions for most of these species. In order to address our continent-wide understanding of both conflicts and benefits associated with Africa’s small carnivores, we undertook a thorough literature review of all published works on African carnivores. Using a myriad of sources including recently published compendiums on African mammals (i.e., Mammals of Africa, vol. V), we identified 8,867 published records for all carnivore species including duplicates. Of these, a total of 6,177 papers or more than 69% of all papers focused on at least one of the 10 large carnivore species, compared to 30% or 2,690 for the remaining 81 small species. Utilizing titles and abstracts we scored papers across 21 categories, including categories related to human use/cultural significance. Among small carnivores, major conflicts included consumption of livestock (e.g. poultry) and hunting for bush-meat. Benefits were often species-dependent, for example collection of anal gland secretions from the African civet (Civettictis civetta) for the perfume industry. On-going scoring of additional species will allow us to examine how both conflicts and benefits vary across species ecologies, geographic regions, and cultural contexts. This review provides one of the first comprehensive assessments of conflict-benefit relationships between humans and small carnivores in Africa, augmenting efforts to promote carnivore conservation in the continent.