Controversial study finds cattle and wildlife can co-exist in Kenya’s Maasai Mara

A new study conducted in Kenya is challenging the conventional wisdom that cattle are inherently bad for wildlife, reports Mongabay’s Ashoka Mukpo. In contrast to previous research, the recent study found that a limited number of cattle — grazing illegally in one portion of Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR) — had a negligible effect on wildlife. Indigenous Maasai in an area adjacent to the park called Talek, lack rangeland for their livestock, so they routinely slip into MMNR, where grazing is prohibited. Between 2018 and 2019, researchers collected dung samples from 60 sites in the reserve adjacent to Talek, returning to each site once a month to collect dung samples to determine what other animals had used the area. They also measured the quantity and quality of grass and soil at each location. The researchers found that at the level of grazing extending 12 kilometers (7 miles) into MMNR, there was no decline in the quality or quantity of forage. Furthermore, they found no evidence that wildlife grazing there were affected by the presence of cattle. “None of the wildlife showed a direct negative association with cattle,” said co-author Wenjing Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Germany. “The only one might be buffalo, which had a very weak negative relationship.” Assessing cattle’s impact on wildlife goes beyond ecological concerns. It also raises broader questions about land rights for the Maasai, who have herded cattle in the region for centuries. In neighboring Tanzania,…This article was originally published on Mongabay