RESULTS
Homing ability. — (Reference is made to Table 1 and Figure 3) -
[n = 13 i.e. total translocations less the tortoise
609HSLa that shed off its transmitter at the
translocation site and the juvenile 508HSL]. The control tortoise
(609HSLb) always remained at its home crevice. Two
females (976HSL and 627HSL) adapted well to the respective crevices of
translocation. Six tortoises, (i.e. three males and three females)
representing 46.15% (n=13) of the translocated tortoises traced their
way back to their home crevice with exact precision, traveling over an
average distance of 1.66km in average of 40 days. When re-translocated
to a different orientation, the first two already homed tortoises
(910HSL♀ and 942HSL♂) interestingly
navigated their way back again to their respective home crevices (across
a dry river) covering 0.30km and 1.60km in 1 day and 21 days
respectively. The male 527HSL was killed by a predator just 0.23km away
from its home crevice, after traveling for a distance of 1.33km in 37
days. Taking the longest distance (0.24km) between two crevices in the
study area within which the resident tortoises were observed to freely
move back and forth during different seasons, it is assumed that 527HSL
had reached its home range. Thus it can be deduced that 8 tortoises
61.54% (n=13) of the translocated tortoises successfully homed covering
an average of 2.00km in average of 33.22 days.
The remaining three tortoises (adult males 643HSL and 662HSL and
juvenile male 508HSL) attempted homing but failed to reach their
respective home crevices. The juvenile 508HSL travelled 0.13km and found
a new crevice where it since remained while the male 662HSL had its
journey intermittently disrupted by entering into different crevices,
one of them inhabited by one female. It shed off its transmitter after
287days having travelled 2.64km. The male 643HSL stopped its homing
journey after covering a distance of 4.69km in 39 days. It found a
crevice occupied by a male-female Pancake tortoise pair and displaced
the male. A day after, the new pair was found mating outside the
crevice. Considering the percentages, Fishers exact test showed that
there was a statistically significant difference between those tortoises
that successfully homed and those that did not home
(X2 = 5.76; df = 1, p = 0.021).
Of the tortoises that successfully homed, the female 910HSL traveled the
longest distance of 6.092km taking 148 days to reach its original home
crevice. Other than 910HSL when re-translocated to a different
orientation (homing for 0.3km in less than a day), the female 560HSL
traveled the least distance of 0.5164km in three days (Table 1).