The effect of bushmeat consumption on migratory wildlife in the Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania
Open accessAbstract
Bushmeat hunting is a threat to wildlife populations in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, including to migratory wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus and other wildlife populations in the Serengeti ecosystem. Accurate assessments of offtake through bushmeat hunting are necessary to determine whether hunting pressure on the wildebeest population is unsustainable. We used a panel dataset of local bushmeat consumption to measure offtake of wildlife and examine the long-term threat to the Serengeti wildebeest population. Based on these data we estimate an annual offtake of 97,796–140,615 wildebeest (6–10% of the current population), suggesting that previous estimates based on ecological models underestimated the effect of poaching on these populations.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Up to 12% of the wildebeest population is removed each year for bushmeat.
“While the long-term population trend is relatively stable and indicative of food limitation (Fig. S29), a large percentage of the population (up to 12% year -1 ) is removed each year for bushmeat ( 38 ), and this offtake may dampen the role of food competition in wildebeest mortality, and potentially compensate other demographic components such as birth rates or juvenile survival.”
From Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (2019) · cites this paper as [38]
The Introduction estimates annual bushmeat offtake at 97,796–140,615 wildebeest, or 6–10% of the current population; the Results give the same annual range. This supports substantial yearly removal for bushmeat, but not the claimed upper figure of 12%. (LLM, conf=0.90)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThis offtake may dampen the role of food competition in wildebeest mortality and potentially compensate other demographic components such as birth rates or juvenile survival.
“While the long-term population trend is relatively stable and indicative of food limitation (Fig. S29), a large percentage of the population (up to 12% year -1 ) is removed each year for bushmeat ( 38 ), and this offtake may dampen the role of food competition in wildebeest mortality, and potentially compensate other demographic components such as birth rates or juvenile survival.”
From Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (2019) · cites this paper as [38]
The Abstract and Results report annual bushmeat offtake of 97,796–140,615 wildebeest, supporting substantial annual removal. The Abstract gives this as 6–10% of the current population, not the cited upper figure of 12%. The sentence places the citation on the offtake estimate; the proposed effects on food competition, birth rates, and juvenile survival are the citing authors’ subsequent inference. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Serengeti: Dynamics of an Ecosystem.
Yalden, D. W., SINCLAIR, A. R. E., & Norton‐Griffiths, M. (1980) · Journal of Ecology · doi:10.2307/2259478 · Cited by 1,215 · see citing works
Serengeti II: Dynamics, management, and conservation of an ecosystem
Leader‐Williams, N. (1996) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/0169-5347(96)81103-7 · Cited by 503 · see citing works
Validity of the 24-hr. dietary recall and seven-day record for group comparisons
Gersovitz, M., Madden, J. P., & SMIClKLAS-WRIGHT, H. (1978) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(21)05669-8 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
Serengeti II: Dynamics, Management and Conservation of an Ecosystem.
Deutsch, J. C., SINCLAIR, A. R. E., & Arcese, P. (1996) · Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.2307/2404970 · Cited by 441 · see citing works
Food regulates the Serengeti wildebeest: a 40-year record.
Mduma, S. A. R., Sinclair, A. R. E., & Hilborn, R. (1999) · Journal of Animal Ecology · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2656.1999.00352.x · Cited by 434 · see citing works
Economic and geographic drivers of wildlife consumption in rural Africa
Brashares, J. S., Golden, C. D. W., Weinbaum, K. Z., Barrett, C. B., & Okello, G. V. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1011526108 · Cited by 417 · see citing works
Day, N. (2001) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/30.2.309 · Cited by 410 · see citing works
Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Biology
(1998) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195104899.001.0001 · Cited by 390 · see citing works
Loibooki, M., Hofer, H., Campbell, K. L. I., & East, M. L. (2002) · Environmental Conservation · doi:10.1017/s0376892902000279 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Evidence for post‐depletion sustainability in a mature bushmeat market
COWLISHAW, G., MENDELSON, S., & ROWCLIFFE, J. M. (2005) · Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01046.x · Cited by 206 · see citing works
Long-term ecosystem dynamics in the Serengeti: lessons for conservation.
SINCLAIR, A. R. E., MDUMA, S. A. R., HOPCRAFT, J. G. C., FRYXELL, J. M., HILBORN, R., & THIRGOOD, S. (2007) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00699.x · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Dynamics of Mara–Serengeti ungulates in relation to land use changes
Ogutu, J. O., Piepho, H. ‐., Dublin, H. T., Bhola, N., & Reid, R. S. (2009) · Journal of Zoology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00536.x · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Land-cover change and human population trends in the greater Serengeti ecosystem from 1984–2003
Estes, A. B., Kuemmerle, T., Kushnir, H., Radeloff, V. C., & Shugart, H. H. (2012) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.01.010 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
SINCLAIR, A. R. E., Packer, C., Mduma, S., & Fryxell, J. M. (2008) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226760353.001.0001 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citationFood for thought : the utilization of wild meat in eastern and southern Africa
Barnett, R. (2000) · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Barrett, C. B., & Arcese, P. (1998) · Land Economics · doi:10.2307/3146878 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
The nature of hunting around the Western Corridor of Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Kaltenborn, B. P., Nyahongo, J., & Tingstad, K. M. (2005) · Zeitschrift f\ ur Jagdwissenschaft · doi:10.1007/s10344-005-0109-9 · Cited by 101 · see citing works
Rentsch, D., & Damon, A. L. (2013) · Ecological Economics · doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.03.021 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Self-citationIllegal meat hunting in serengeti: dynamics in consumption and preferences
Ndibalema, V. G., & Songorwa, A. N. (2007) · African Journal of Ecology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2007.00836.x · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Behaviour and Life History of the Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus Burchell)
ESTES, R. D. (1966) · Nature · doi:10.1038/212999a0 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Development and testing of a seven-day dietary recall
Hébert, J. R., Ockene, I. S., Hurley, T. G., Luippold, R. S., Well, A. D., & Harmatz, M. G. (1997) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/s0895-4356(97)00098-x · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Knapp, E. J., Rentsch, D., Schmitt, J. A., Lewis, C., & Polasky, S. (2010) · Oryx · doi:10.1017/s0030605309990895 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Self-citationHolmern, T., Mkama, S., Muya, J., & Røskaft, E. (2006) · African Zoology · doi:10.1080/15627020.2006.11407338 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Pascual, M. A., & Hilborn, R. (1995) · The Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.2307/2404645 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Limits to exploitation of Serengeti wildebeest and implications for its management.
Mduma, S., Hilborn, R. W., SINCLAIR, A. R. E., Newbery, D. M., Prins, H. H. T., & Brown, N. (1998) · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Who Poaches? Household Economies of Illegal Hunters in Western Serengeti, Tanzania
Knapp, E. J. (2007) · Human Dimensions of Wildlife · doi:10.1080/10871200701323140 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Metzger, K. L., SINCLAIR, A. R. E., Campbell, K. L. I., Hilborn, R. W., Hopcraft, J. G. C., Mduma, S., & Reich, R. M. (2007) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.06.026 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
The Management of Subsistence Harvesting: Behavioral Ecology of Hunters and Their Mammalian Prey
Fitzgibbon, C. D. (1998) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195104899.003.0016 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Schmitt, J. A. (2010) · University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy (University of Minnesota) · Cited by 15 · see citing works
The Impact of Horning by Wildebeest on Woody Vegetation of the Serengeti Ecosystem
Estes, R. D., Raghunathan, T. E., & van Vleck, D. (2008) · Journal of Wildlife Management · doi:10.2193/2008-105 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Who Pays for Conservation? Current and Future Financing Scenarios for the Serengeti Ecosystem
Thirgood, S., Mlingwa, C., Gereta, E., Runyoro, V. A., Malpas, R. C., Laurenson, K., & Borner, M. (2008) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226760353.003.0015 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Cross-boundary human impacts compromise the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem
Veldhuis, M. P., Ritchie, M. E., Ogutu, J. O., Morrison, T. A., Beale, C. M., Estes, A. B., Mwakilema, W., Ojwang, G. O., Parr, C. L., Probert, J., et al. (2019) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aav0564 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Spatiotemporal trends of illegal activities from ranger-collected data in a Ugandan national park
Critchlow, R., Plumptre, A. J., Driciru, M., Rwetsiba, A., Stokes, E. J., Tumwesigye, C., Wanyama, F., & Beale, C. M. (2015) · Conservation Biology · doi:10.1111/cobi.12538 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Conserving transboundary wildlife migrations: recent insights from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem
Middleton, A. D., Sawyer, H., Merkle, J. A., Kauffman, M. J., Cole, E. K., Dewey, S. R., Gude, J. A., Gustine, D. D., McWhirter, D. E., Proffitt, K. M., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · doi:10.1002/fee.2145 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Post-war recovery of the African lion in response to large-scale ecosystem restoration
Bouley, P., Poulos, M. J., Branco, R., & Carter, N. (2018) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.08.024 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Food supply and poaching limit giraffe abundance in the Serengeti
Strauss, M. K. L., Kilewo, M., Rentsch, D., & Packer, C. (2015) · Population Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10144-015-0499-9 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Self-citationTarangire revisited: Consequences of declining connectivity in a tropical ungulate population
Morrison, T. A., Link, W. A., Newmark, W. D., Foley, C., & Bolger, D. T. (2016) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2016.02.034 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Telecoupling framework for research on migratory species in the Anthropocene
Hulina, J., Bocetti, C. I., Campa, H., Hull, V., Yang, W., & Liu, J. (2017) · Elementa Science of the Anthropocene · doi:10.1525/elementa.184 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Roads and livelihood activity choices in the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem, Tanzania
Walelign, S. Z., Nielsen, M. R., & Jacobsen, J. B. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213089 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Snyder, K. D., Mneney, P. B., & Wittemyer, G. (2019) · Conservation Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/csp2.81 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Wildebeest migration in East Africa: Status, threats and conservation measuresPreprint
Msoffe, F. U., Ogutu, J. O., Said, M. Y., Kifugo, S. C., de Leeuw, J., Gardingen, P. V., Reid, R. S., Stabach, J. A., & Boone, R. B. (2019) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/546747 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Walelign, S. Z., Nielsen, M. R., & Jakobsen, J. B. (2019) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.3389/fevo.2019.00162 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Molecular species identification of bushmeat recovered from the Serengeti ecosystem in Tanzania
Schilling, M. A., Estes, A. B., Eblate, E., Martin, A., Rentsch, D., Katani, R., Joseph, A., Kindoro, F., Lyimo, B. M., Radzio‐Basu, J., et al. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237590 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citationPoachers’ Strategies to Surmount Anti-poaching Efforts in Western Serengeti, Tanzania
Rija, A. A., & Kideghesho, J. R. (2020) · Geotechnologies and the environment · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-43302-4_7 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
The influence of conservation policies and legislations on communities in Tanzania
Kegamba, J. J., Sangha, K. K., Wurm, P., Kideghesho, J. R., & Garnett, S. T. (2024) · Biodiversity and Conservation · doi:10.1007/s10531-024-02906-w · Cited by 12 · see citing works
Nuño, A., Milner‐Gulland, E. J., & Bunnefeld, N. (2014) · Animal Conservation · doi:10.1111/acv.12175 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Manyama, F. F., Nielsen, M. R., Røskaft, E., & Nyahongo, J. W. (2019) · Environment and Natural Resources Research · doi:10.5539/enrr.v9n3p49 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Estimating the abundance of a group‐living species using multi‐latent spatial models
Torney, C. J., Laxton, M. R., Lloyd‐Jones, D. J., Kohi, E. M., Frederick, H., Moyer, D., Mrisha, C., Mwita, M., & Hopcraft, J. G. C. (2022) · Methods in Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1111/2041-210x.13941 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Masai giraffe population change over 40 years in Arusha National Park
Lee, D., Lohay, G. G., Madeli, J. M., Cavener, D. R., & Bond, M. L. (2023) · African Journal of Ecology · doi:10.1111/aje.13115 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Kavwele, C. M., Hopcraft, J. G. C., Morales, J. M., Nyaffi, G., Kimuya, N., & Torney, C. J. (2025) · Canadian Journal of Zoology · doi:10.1139/cjz-2024-0075 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Kegamba, J. J., & Siga, A. A. (2025) · Global Ecology and Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03743 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
My chat with a poacher in Western Serengeti
Eustace, A. (2017) · Animal Conservation · doi:10.1111/acv.12360 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Conservation Economics and Sustainable Development
Dyke, F. V., & Lamb, R. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-39534-6_11 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
政治化された「野生」──地域社会はグローバル化した野生動物といかにかかわれるか──
雪乃, 岩. (2017) · 環境社会学研究 · doi:10.24779/jpkankyo.23.0_34
Kegamba, J. J., Butiku, D. T., Mwita, E. R., Garnett, S. T., & Kaaya, M. S. (2026) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2026.112019
Fløjgaard, C., Buitenwerf, R., Chiarucci, A., Konvička, M., Mortensen, R. M., Owen‐Smith, N., Saavedra, D., Svenning, J., & Ejrnæs, R. (2026) · Restoration Ecology · doi:10.1111/rec.70508
Michael, M. R., Giliba, R. A., Lohay, G. G., & Thompson, K. E. T. (2026) · Frontiers in Conservation Science · doi:10.3389/fcosc.2026.1901135
- Authors
- Rentsch, D., & Packer, C.
- Affiliations
- Frankfurt Zoological Society (DE)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rentsch, Dennis
- Venue
- Oryx
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2014-07-15
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 287-294
- ISSN
- 0030-6053 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-3008
- OpenAlex
- W2136289625
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Oryx (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Keywords
- bushmeat consumption, poaching, Connochaetes taurinus, hunting pressure, Serengeti ecosystem, wildlife decline, panel data
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
