Susceptibility of pine stands to bark stripping by chacma baboons Papio ursinus in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe

The aim of this study was to determine the susceptibility, intensity and distribution of pine trees to bark stripping by chacma baboons Papio ursinus in three plantations in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The number of plots/ha, stripped trees/ plot and stripped trees/ha was recorded during the pre-rainy, rainy and post-rainy seasons from August 2006 to May 2007. During data collection, altitude, aspect, season and other site predictor variables （e. g., roads and fire traces, water points, indigenous vegetation conservation areas, crop felds, human settlements, wattle scrubs, rocky areas, open grasslands, earlier stripped sites and roost sites） were recorded for each plot in association with selected predictor variables within plantation estates. Data on the number of stripped plots/ha, stripped trees/plot and stripped trees/ha were analysed as dependent variables using the Generalised Linear Model （GLM） through SPSS version 15 （2006） to determine which predictor variables were significantly related to bark stripping. Differences between means were tested using Bonferroni tests with a 5 % level of significance. Our findings show that bark stripping of pine trees by baboons occurred at all altitudes and aspects. Overall, the number of bark stripped trees/ha did not significandy vary by season. The number of bark stripped plots/ha was lower during the pre-rainy season than the rainy season, whereas the number of bark stripped trees/plot was higher during the pre-rainy than the rainy season. Bark stripping of pines occurred more often in the vicinities of areas with abundant food and water