the productivity of the land when grazed by this domestic livestock. 
These conditions, however, are optimum for the production of the indig¬ 
enous wild animals which evolved in or with them. 
In East and Central Africa, for example, equivalent savanna lands 
will support and maintain a substantially higher standing crop of mixed 
wild ungulates than of domestic livestock. In terms of liveweight, 
pound for pound the crop of wild ungulates is significantly more pro¬ 
ductive than that of domestic livestock from the standpoints of age and 
rate of reproduction, liveweight gain and spped of maturity, killing out 
percentage and carcass balance, and protein yield. Through their differ¬ 
ential, nonduplicating diets and more flexible water requirements a mixed 
population of wild ungulates makes far more efficient use of the avail¬ 
able forage and water than do domestic animals. 
Properly prepared, the meat of most wild ungulates is of high 
quality and is as satisfactory and desirable for human consumption as 
meat of domestic livestock. Wild animals also produce valuable by¬ 
products such as highly priced skins and ivory, and they are the basis 
of a valuable tourist industry. 
Game harvesting is a relatively new industry, but is has been demon¬ 
strated to be a practical and successful use of the land. Economic game 
harvesting operations are being carried out in many countries. Most 
present harvesting is of free-ranging animals but experiments with an 
eland herd have shown the potentialities of domestication of some wild 
species. 
On many lands wild animals clearly offer greater potential for 
sustained production of meat and other animal products than do domestic 
livestock. With the world's expanding need for animal products it is 
desirable and logical to further develop the possibilities of increasing 
animal production through utilization of the wild ungulates. 1 / 
1 / For a comprehensive review of the literature on the subject of this 
paper, with special reference to Africa, see Talbot, et al., 1965. 
14 
