Ecological and social triggers of human (predator) and animal (prey) movement patterns in Central DRC

While apex carnivores are known to influence the distribution and abundance of African mammal communities, the effect of human (Homo sapiens) predation on intra‐ and inter‐specific collective behaviour of these communities is virtually unknown.

From January to December 2023, we will study hunters and their prey (Cephalophus spp.) in the rainforest of Central DR Congo. In an interdisciplinary approach, we investigate how hunters decide, coordinate, and act in a spatially explicit manner when setting out on their traditional subsistence hunting. We assess ecological triggers, map predator and prey movements using bio‐logging technology, and reveal the ethnographic, social, and economic components of traditional hunting using semi-structured interviews and economic games.

We wish to understand predator-prey relations as well as individual motivations of collective hunting and cooperation and to enhance community participatory wildlife management in the buffer zone of Salonga National Park.