RESOURCE AVAILABILITY AND HABITAT PREFERENCES OF 3 AFRICAN UNGULATES

The relationships between resource availability and the requirements of ungulate species were approached by assessing the habitat preferences of three ungulate species, namely roan Hippotragus equinus, sable H. niger and tsessebe Damaliscus lunatus, in relation to the classification of their available habitats. Cluster analysis distinguished between five habitat types. Roan and tsessebe were generally associated with habitats forming a large portion of the total area, whereas sable were associated with confined habitats. Selectiveness and possible resource limitation were, however, indicated for tsessebe as they attained higher correlations with particular habitat features which were relatively scarce in the study area. © 1990.