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Tanzania: |
ACM Tanzania Program Field Projects |
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Fall 2006 Titles and abstracts of field projects completed by participants in the fall 2006 ACM Tanzania Program. These papers are not available for distribution. Go
to Project directory |
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Ecology
Archaeology
Paleo-Ecology
Geology
Anthropology
Medical Anthropology
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Ecology Disease
and disease transmission from wildlife to livestock in the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area -- a survey of effects on Maasai pastoralists Ngorongoro Conservation Area has been home to both pastoralist cattle herders and some of Africa's most famous wildlife for 30 years. Now more than ever, human populations are growing in the NCA and surrounding the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem, putting pressure on management and on local people. Experts on East African wildlife management have remarked upon the need for better baseline data on disease transmission in East Africa (Kock 2005). The purposes of this study were twofold: 1) provide basic data on the most important diseases for cattle, sheep and goats of the NCA, Endulen and Olbalbal village areas in the past five years, with the hope of leading to better management of parks and more effective means of controlling disease. 2) To understand how these diseases are effecting the opinions of the cattle-herders regarding conservation efforts in their areas. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from veterinarians, park veterinarians, and Maasai pastoralist herders. Interviews were conducted in Kiswahili and Kimaasai via translation. Data were recorded by hand. The most important diseases in the area of study were found to be East Coast Fever and it's cerebral from Bovine Cerebral Theileriosis, Contagious Bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia, Malignant Catarrhal Fever, and Sheep Pox. These diseases were distributed evenly throughout the range of study, and were found to be highly prevalent. Maasai opinions of conservation affirmed the importance of conservation itself, but were divided over the present management policies. Grass
Composition and Dalbergia melanoxylon in regard to the Fire
Management Policy of Tarangire National Park Management of fire in protected lands is a multi-faceted issue worldwide. Fire has the capacity of altering notable ecological factors including soil composition, vegetation composition, species diversity and composition, and carbon and nitrogen cycles. Africa's savanna grassland is an ecosystem undergoing constant fluctuation with regard to the herbaceous-woody mosaic. Grasses and trees affect each other in mutualistic, commensalistic and competitive ways depending on the species and ecological situation, and burn policies have the capacity to alter these relationships and the herbaceous-woody ratio. Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, undergoes annual perimeter burns to prevent threats to flora and fauna within the park. Dalbergia melanoxylon is a species identified by Tarangire as threatened, and though fire stunts the tree's growth, little is known about the effect of Tarangire's general burn policy on the species. I found that fire significantly changes grass composition in the park, and observed that grass composition inversely corresponds to Dalbergia melanoxylon populations, although this observation was not supported statistically. Baobab
Damage as an Indicator of Elephant Ecology Over 150 baobabs were sampled in Tarangire National Park. The total circumferences and the fractions of that circumference which were new bark ripping, old bark ripping, scarred bark ripping, and unripped bark were measured. This analysis was coupled with analysis of the surrounding matrix. Qualitative and quantitative analysis resulted in the development of a number of important relationships. For example, road effects do not impact elephant environmental impact, but tourism in general may be pushing elephants away from areas frequented by tourists. Changes in vegetative zone, elephant demographics, and total circumference are not significantly correlated to changes in baobab impact while elevation and elephant migration routes do impact elephant baobab damage. Elephants do not eat baobabs in the same area where they eat other food resources suggesting a difference in motivation for those behaviors. There is also no significant relationship between baobab impact and distance from water resources. Upon further intensive statistical analysis, additional relationships may be attained. Human
Habitation and the Red Headed Rock Agama: A Study of Behavior at
Tarangire National Park The Red-Headed Rock Agama (Agama agama) is a large, brightly colored lizard found throughout East Africa. A diurnal and insectivorous species, A. agama is known to form complex social groups and is commonly found in woodlands and savannas near large rock formations. In recent years, these lizards have become attracted to human structures (Spawls and Howell, 2004), and the complete cause of this phenomenon is unknown. This study explored possible behavior differences between agamas at Sopa Lodge and Mawe Ninga Tented Camp in Tarangire National Park. Data was collected on gender distribution, frequency of use of buildings, and frequencies of activities near buildings. One and two factor ANOVAs were performed for independence between the factors, and Chi-Square tests of independence between two or more samples were used to test for significance between expected and observed values. Statistically significant results were discovered between the two locations, and possible explanations for the differences are discussed. Comparison
of Foraging Behavior Between Female and Male Giraffes Giraffes display sexual dimorphism: the males are larger than the females. Males digest food quicker because of their larger size and, therefore, can consume foods of lower quality. Males can use the time gained from their efficient foraging on other activities, like courting females. Females must be more selective of their vegetation, because they have a slower metabolism and need the extra nutrition for reproduction and lactation. This should lead to a difference in the foraging behaviors. I hypothesized that males should spend less time foraging than females and should be less selective feeders because of their lower requirements. Also giraffes in different densities of vegetation should forage differently. Heat intensity from the sun also varies with the time of day so I compared female and male activities during periods of different heat intensity. I found all of my observations and hypothesis to be insignificant, which suggests that male and female giraffes do not express a difference in foraging behaviors, even with different heat intensities, and the density of vegetation is not significant to the amount of plants a giraffe forages on and does not vary between females and males. Pastoralism
and Desertification: Domestic Livestock Grazing on Land Adjacent
to Tarangire National Park Over the last hundred years, the land-use patterns of the Maasai, a pastoral tribe found in northern Tanzania and southern Kenya, have changed significantly. Faced with large land losses in tandem with a rapidly growing population, the Maasai have both changed their grazing patterns and begun to settle into permanent homesteads. Traditionally, the mobility and flexibility of the Maasai made their pastoral lifestyle ecologically sustainable. However, as many of the changes the Maasai have made have come at the expense of their mobility and flexibility, the ecological sustainability of the Maasai's pastoralism, as currently practiced, is brought into question. That is, the overgrazing of land by domestic livestock is a recognized source of desertification, a decrease in the economic and biological productivity of dryland area. In this study, I used the border of Tarangire National Park (TNP) in northern Tanzania, a line with protected land on one side and land open to domestic grazing on the other, to isolate the contribution of domestic animals to any potential grazing-induced desertification in the area. As a loss in grass coverage is an indicator of desertification, I measured the percent coverage of grass both inside and outside of the park. I found a potentially significant difference on only one out of four surveyed border roads, thus suggesting that overgrazing by domestic livestock is not a significant problem around the northern borders of TNP; and, thus, grazing-induced desertification is not, at the moment, likely in this area.
The Effect of Roads on Vegetation and Wildlife
Grazing in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania Within Tarangire National Park, roads exist as one of the single most permanent anthropogenic alterations of the landscape. This study attempts to determine if roads are affecting the park's plant communities and the grazing behavior of the park's mega fauna. Roadside vegetation was surveyed along five roads throughout the north of the park. The expected road effects were absent and no trends were found between proximity to the road and percent coverage as a measurement of wildlife grazing levels. It is a widely accepted phenomenon that road effects occur to a certain extent wherever roads are present, so this is an unusual finding. Results may be attributed to many factors including that the study was conducted during the dry season, a time of increased wildlife populations, overall system stress, and grazing levels due to migration patterns. Effects may exist to a less visible extent or the marginalization of grazing populations within the park boundaries may be forcing animals to ignore the ecological changes. |
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Archaeology
An Archeological Survey of MSA tools in
Northern Tarangire National Park A ground survey of the northern section of Tarangire National Park was conducted with the intent to establish a better understanding of the pre-history of the area. Several possible study sites were found, however only one was surveyed do to time constraints. 409 artifacts were collected and analyzed, showing a typical MSA assemblage. The artifacts were made of local sources, chert, quartz, and quartzite; as well as non-local materials including: obsidian and lava rocks. It is believed the site is a stone cache for the creation of tools do to the high amount of debitage found on site, as well as a meat processing center, due to the high amount of scrapper tools. An archeological excavation could be done at this site and is highly encouraged. |
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Paleo-Ecology
Footprint Analyses and Paleoenvironmental
Reconstruction at Laetoli, Tanzania During a four week field study at Laetoli in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania three Footprint Tuff exposures were studied for animal footprints. The Footprint Tuff, also referred to as Tuff 7 was created 3.5 million years ago by numerous volcanic ash eruptions from the nearby volcano Sadiman. The footprints were preserved in the ash and include animal and hominid footprints very important in our current understanding of human evolution. The study aimed to create a paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on a modern analogy with the animal prints found at the three exposures with the animals present today. The tracks found at the three exposures included dikdik, elephant, zebra, African buffalo, giraffe and guinea fowl. These tracks were indicative of a mixture of grassland and woodland environment typical of Laetoli today. An
Examination of the Proposed Relationship Between Habitat and Foot-Surface
Area Based On the Wildlife of Tarangire National Park, and the Application
of Such a Relationship to the Paleo-Ecology of Dinosaurs Using tracings of footprints to calculate foot-surface area, the animal inhabitants of Tarangire National Park were used to test the long standing notion that large feet are indicative of animals from wet environments. A statistically significant relationship was found among birds (relatively large foot-surface area did correlate with wetland inhabitants). The study failed to confirm any relationship between foot size and habitat preferences among mammals. Analyses of dinosaur tracks found the group (with the exception of sauropods) to be characterized by relatively large rear feet and overall small weight to foot-surface area ratios. |
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Geology
Mt. Lamakarot, Tanzania: Morphology, Mineralogy,
and Petrology of a Plio-Pleistocene Shield Volcano in the Gregory
Rift The Ngorongoro Volcanic Highlands (NVH) consists of several volcanoes as well as innumerable scoria cones and lava flows. However, little is known about the morphology, mineralogy, and magma sources of these volcanoes. This study surveyed Mt. Lamakarot, a 2300 m volcano on the northwest side of the NVH, in order to address this problem. I discovered that Mt. Lamakarot is a Plio-pleistocene shield volcano that erupted a series of highly fluid, plagioclase to olivine rich silica undersaturated basaltic lava flows with little to no ash. All Lamakarot lavas are compositionally similar, and any differences between them can be attributed to magma evolution according to Bowen's Reaction Series. The mineralogy of Lamakarot lavas suggests that they derive from a shallow source generating a large amount of magma, possibly corresponding to the initial stages of asthenospheric upwelling in the Gregory Rift. Furthermore, Lamakarot lavas are mineralogically and petrographically distinct from other nearby volcanic centers. B is one of t |
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Anthropology
Tarangire National Park: Tour Destination
or Roadside Attraction? The Tanzania National Parks generate annually somewhere between 64 and 112 million Tanzania shillings in foreign exchange from tourism (1986 Prins). The Maasi Ecosystem, which includes Tarangire National Park, is second only to the Serengeti-Ngorongoro ecosystem, boasting a migratory cycle, which brings 3,000 elephants, 25,000 wildebeest and 30,000 zebras to the Tarangire River for drinking during the dry season (Fink 2003). Of the tourists that visit Tanzania's national parks only 4.5% of paying national park visit Tarangire. This research's goal is to understand what Tarangire's role within the northern circuit is, specifically an examination of tourist expectations, preferences and needs. For my research I interviewed 85 tourists at Matete picnic site and Tarangire Safari Lodge inside the park. It was found that tourists generally stayed half as much time in Tarangire than in Serengeti, while responses to overall experience in Tarangire did not significantly change before or after visiting Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Significant results were found, and explanations for these results are discussed. Why
Girls Drop Out of Primary Schools: Student Perceptions in Tarangire,
Minjingu and Kakoi To understand the matrix of reasons for which girls drop out of public primary schools in Tanzania, I interviewed 75 students between the ages of 10 and 20 years, from standard IV to VI, at three different schools in the Hanang district. I conducted typical anthropological interviews, using a tape recorder and translator. My results show several significant trends under different realms. Firstly, whether girls are actually married, or just have a fiancé, they are placed in the same category, and because of traditional gender-roles, early pregnancies out of wedlock are common. Under the law these girls are prohibited from further schooling. Secondly, corporal punishment negatively affects girls, because teachers do not stay under the legal limit of 3 lashes. Finally, more work is expected of girls in a household, and oftentimes teachers do not encourage girls who do housework in favor of studying and therefore struggle in the classroom. |
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Medical Anthropology
Risk Factors for Tuberculosis in the Ngorongoro
Conservation Area One-third of the world is currently infected with latent tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that is fully treatable but still endemic in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and especially prevalent within the village of Olbalbal, in the heart of the NCA. The general risk factors for contracting tuberculosis are well known, but within the NCA specific ones have not been highlighted as particularly important. In this study, the risk factors of geography, sex, age, body weight, Bacille de Calmette-Guerin vaccination, household density, milk boiling practices, familiarity of the disease and period of time waited before seeking treatment were studied in the village of Olbalbal and in the region surrounding the Endulen Hospital. The factors of household density, milk boiling practices and time waited before treatment were insignificantly different between those in Olbalbal and those elsewhere, and between those who were TB positive and TB negative. BCG vaccination, age, weight and living with a TB positive individual were all found to have correlation with groups of TB positive subjects. "Waiting
for an Explosion": Knowledge and Perceptions of HIV/AIDS in Maasailand The devastating impact of that HIV/AIDS has had on sub-Saharan Africa is undeniable. While its incidence remains low (roughly 2.3%) in the Maasai population of northern Tanzania, this culture exhibits a number of beliefs and practices that put it at great risk for rapid transmission of HIV/AIDS through their population. The objectives of this research were to determine the extent of basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS in the community, to identify specific practices that put the community at risk, and to explore perceptions of the efficacy of traditional versus biomedicine in treating HIV; such knowledge could provide valuable information and recommendations for future HIV/AIDS educators attempting to address beliefs and risks unique to the Maasai community. To accomplish these objectives, fifty Maasai men and women were interviewed in and around Endulen, a village in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area. My results indicate that although these people have a general familiarity with HIV/AIDS, many (22.0%) could not provide any information about where it originated, how it is contracted, symptoms, and existence of treatment/cure. Other notable findings included a widespread belief that HIV/AIDS has not yet been introduced to the Maasai community, only five spontaneous references to condoms as a way to prevent transmission of HIV and a general aversion to their use, frequent confusion about the existence of "treatment" versus "cure," and a high confidence in the ability of traditional healers to treat and/or cure HIV/AIDS.
Effects of Vitamin A Supplementation on Xerophthalmia
in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Vitamin A deficiency poses a significant health risk to children in the Endulen Region of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Without vitamin A the body's immune system weakens and blindness can result. Deficiency manifests as deterioration of the conjunctiva and is known as xerophthalmia. I studied xerophthalmia in school aged children throughout the Endulen region by following the Endulen Hospital Outreach Clinic or visiting local schools. I attempted to correlate vitamin A supplementation with deficiency. I used the presence of a tuberculosis vaccine scar as evidence for vitamin A supplementation in early childhood. I found that a tuberculosis vaccination scar can serve as an accurate indicator of non-deficiency. There are many possible explanations for this correlation. I hope that my research can be used as a basis for improved efforts in vitamin A supplementation programs. Safety
vs. Comfort: Maasai Preferences in Maternal Healthcare Despite the recent efforts of the Endulen Hospital, located in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), to eliminate childbirth-related deaths by encouraging more Maasai mothers to give birth at the hospital, more than 90% of women in the NCA deliver their babies at home. To understand why giving birth at home with the assistance of a traditional midwife is important for Maasai women, I interviewed mothers and traditional midwives from different villages in the NCA. These women responded to questions about their delivery experiences and their feelings about the maternal healthcare and traditional birth attendant (TBA) programs offered by the Endulen Hospital, and revealed that a lack of communication about childbirth-related practices exists between the hospital and a large part of the community. This lack of communication has impeded that hospital's efforts to help women who are at risk of having a difficult delivery make decisions about where it is safest to give birth.
Malaria Prevention in Ngorongoro Division
Maasai pastoralists make up the largest population living in the highlands of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Malaria has become a major problem within this population. The combination of human movement, lifestyle, climate change and cultural practices contribute to their susceptibility. The only health facilities available within the entire premises are a dispensary near the Authority Headquarters, and a private hospital in Endulen village. It is apparent, based on the interviews, that knowledge of malaria is limited to a basic awareness and that a deeper understanding of causality, risk, transmission, and treatment is absent in the communities. The hospital has not instituted any kind of education program as a result of many human resources and financial limitations. This research project is based on the premise that education will help alleviate the unnecessarily high incidence, and explores possible avenues for prevention specific to the area and the people. Incidence
of Scoliosis in Primary School Children in the Endulen Area of the
NCA Scoliosis, defined as lateral curvature of the spine greater than 10 degrees, affects 5-10% of all 9-14 year olds. Scoliosis usually does not cause pain in adolescents, but, if allowed to progress, it can lead to discomfort and loss of mobility in adulthood. With time, the deformation can also misalign the ribs. As the ribs move, heart and lung functions are hindered. Because of potential progression, it is important to screen for Scoliosis during puberty, prior to the closure of the iliac crest growth plates. There is no cure for scoliosis, but exercise, improved bone health through nutrition, back braces, and surgery all are possible treatments. Four hundred thirty six Endulen area school children were screened for scoliosis using the forward bending method to access to prevalence of the deformity in the area. Only 3.44% of students tested positive. Females were 2.75 times more likely to have scoliosis than boys. The deformation appeared to be showing up around the age of 12. Data was also collected about school lunches. In order to promote healthy adolescent bone growth, schools are encouraged to add spinach, cabbage, beans and peanuts to the lunches. These additions would increase the intake of minerals essential for bone health in children's diets. |
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