Because of the large home range requirements of wide-ranging carnivores, protected areas are often too small to maintain large populations. Consequently these carnivores regularly move outside protected areas, where they are likely to be exposed to anthropogenic mortality. We used data from 15 packs of radio-collared African wild dogs Lycaon pictus to examine the level of anthropogenic mortality African wild dogs experience around Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, and tried to determine whether the buffer zone outside the Park acts as an ‘ecological trap’. Over time, study packs moved their territories closer to or beyond the Park border. With the movement of territories into the buffer zone outside the Park, African wild dogs experienced an increasing level of anthropogenic mortality. Although larger litters were born outside the Park, mortality exceeded natality. Densities of the African wild dog in the study area were low and territories for given pack sizes were smaller outside the Park. Hence, the movement of packs outside the Park does not appear to be density related and the buffer zone is therefore unlikely to function as a classic sink. Favourable ecological conditions indicate that the buffer zone outside the Park is likely to serve as an ecological trap, with fitness-enhancing factors attracting African wild dogs outside the Park, where they are incapable of perceiving the higher mortality risk associated with mostly indirect anthropogenic causes. As far as we know this is one of the first studies describing an ecological trap for mammals.

To study the behavior of dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus) around drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), we tagged individuals with long-lived, coded sonic transmitters and attached automated sonic receivers to drifting FADs in two regions of the Western Indian Ocean. Among the three tagging methods used in this study (surgery, external hooks, underwater bait without capture), the latest resulted in residence times significantly shorter than the other ones, likely due to regurgitation. Dolphinfish tagged with the two other methods usually stayed several days associated to FADs (Kaplan-Meier survival analysis 5.09 days, mean 6.25 days, SD 4.39 days, maximum 15.26 days), drifting with them. There was no significant difference in the residence times of dolphinfish in equatorial and tropical areas. While associated to FADs, dolphinfish spent most of their time close to floating object (<365 m). The total time spent away from FADs was low (median 8%), and likely corresponded to making feeding excursions. Dolphinfish did not form a single school while associated to a given FADs, but formed multiple small schools. FADs are likely to be sites with exchanges of individuals between schools. These results are discussed in regards to the possibility of FADs acting as ecological traps and the validity of meeting-point hypotheses as an explanation for fish aggregations under floating objects.