An individual recognition system for Hartmann’s mountain zebras (Equus zebra hartmannae)

ABSTRACT Individual-based techniques are increasingly used for conservation management because of their predictive value for small populations. Mountain zebras are suitable for this approach because their stripe patterns are highly variable and individually distinct. A novel system based on sorting manually coded stripe variants at defined positions on the body has been developed for individual recognition in Hartmann’s mountain zebra ( Equus zebra hartmannae ) and is described here as an alternative to computerised pattern recognition approaches. Camera trapping at water holes and/or normal digital photography allows representative sampling of wild populations of this water-dependent equid. This approach can be used in areas which are partly inaccessible for ground survey and avoids the cost and disturbance of physical capture for artificial marking. With a comprehensive network of camera traps, virtually all individuals in a population can potentially be identified at low cost. Recognition of an individual using this system took 56+/-15 seconds (mean +/-SD) in a sample of good quality photographs from an ID library of 3,156 individuals. ID libraries at 6 main study sites where mountain zebra are routinely monitored contain over 12,000 coded individuals with about 7,800 known to be alive. The data obtained are being used for a variety of individual-based approaches including simple population monitoring using retrospective census, mark-recapture estimates, life-history analysis, individual-based modelling and studies of social behaviour.