Livestock and Wildlife Population Distributions in Relation to Aridity and Human Population in Kenya

Abstract

In response to the demand for inventories of livestock and wildlife populations in Kenya, animal censuses were completed during the period 1977 to 1983 using low level, systematic reconnaissance flights. Total stocking levels, ratios of livestock to wildlife, and ratios of cattle to sheep and goats were estimated in terms of tropial animal units for each administrative district. The total stocking level, the ratio of cattle to sheep and goats, and human population density were negatively correlated to aridity. In the driest districts, livestock were low in absolute density but their per capita importance to the human population was high.