Herbivores, sustainability, and trophy hunting in the Matetsi
Trophy hunting is the selective hunting and harvesting of wild game for human recreation—with the "trophy" being the portion of the animal that is kept, ranging from the entire animal to the head, skin, pelt, horns, or antlers. Even before more recent controversies related to black rhinos or Cecil the lion, trophy hunting has been a contentious issue. Those for the practice point out the financial benefits to local communities and to conservation efforts, while opponents question the morality of the practice or the motives of the hunters, along with the supposed conservation benefits. Much work has focused on the impacts of trophy hunting on large predators (1, 2, 3, 4). Victor Muposhi, from The School of Wildlife, Ecology and Conversation at Chinhoui University of Technology in Zimbabwe and his co-authors recently published a study in PLOS One on the temporal dynamics of trophy quality and harvesting patterns of wild...