Page 26 - Landscape SA 96

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURE

Dassies are abundant around Rand Water’s head office due to the favourable environment, shelter and food. The concrete and bricks
of the office complex offer sleeping quarters similar to the rocky outcrops favoured by them.

URBAN WILDLIFE: DASSIE

POPULATION MANAGEMENT IN

JOHANNESBURG SOUTH

Rand Water is one of the largest suppliers of bulk potable water in Africa, and the world.
Established in 1903 to meet the needs of the rapidly growing town of Johannesburg
following the discovery of gold, it supplied water in bulk to the Witwatersrand. Over 117
years later, Rand Water has grown to supply potable water to the province of Gauteng, as
well as to areas in Mpumalanga, Free State and the North-West.

he drought of 1995 created a of the most abundant species of smaller Abundant resources in the landscaped,
need for water awareness and mammals is the rock hyrax (Procavia indigenous gardens, a constant supply
Tconservation in Rand Water’s capensis), colloquially known as the dassie. of water and shelter, and a lack of natural
area of supply, and its environmental These are herbivores that feed mainly on predators had resulted in a dassie
brand ‘Water Wise’ was born, providing leaves, berries, root bulbs, tree bark and population ‘boom’. Suburban expansion
awareness and educational campaigns fruit. They are sociable mammals that are in the area may have also caused forced
to the public. Water Wise also conducts closely related to elephants and manatees, dispersion from surrounding areas into
regular research projects that focus on and are not rodents. the favourable environment offered at
water and environmental conservation Rietvlei. Unfortunately, dassie activities
and address the needs of Rand Water’s The office grounds at Rietvlei are managed were causing large, smelly, and unsightly
strategic objectives. as a matrix of maintained indigenous middens in areas used by staff for lunch
landscaped gardens, interspersed with breaks, and for educational activities
Rand Water’s head office, Rietvlei, is corridors of natural indigenous vegetation offered to school children. Building walls
located in southern Johannesburg, and sits with minimal maintenance. The rocky were stained with dassie excrement and
amongst the rocky outcrops of the dense outcrops on the property are the natural ground staff were losing large amounts
thorny bushveld that is characteristic of habitat of the rock hyrax. of plants to the daily onslaught of these
the Highveld. The vegetation supports a ravenous animals. The concrete and bricks
matrix of shrubby Acacia trees interspersed In 2015, the Water Wise team received of the large office complex offer sleeping
within undulating grasslands and a number of complaints of damage by quarters not unlike the rocky outcrops
clusters of quartzite rocks. Rand Water’s animals to Rietvlei’s office infrastructure favoured by dassies.
property is partly bordered by relatively and garden landscapes. Staff were
natural Highveld grasslands, with the reporting noxious smells and ‘mess’ in Research and deterrence
Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve to the west the corridors that link the car park to the strategies
and a private eco-lodge and conference office block, as well as blocked pipes and
centre to the south. Due to the site’s decimated plants in the natural gardens. The research team at Water Wise launched
largely undeveloped surroundings, there The Water Wise research team investigated a project in collaboration with the Applied
is a large variety of indigenous fauna and the problem and identified an ‘over- Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystem
flora inhabiting the office premises. One population’ of rock hyrax at Rietvlei. Research Unit (ABBERU) at UNISA to

24 Landscape SA • Issue 96 2020