Exxaro’s relocation of baboon spiders

LEPHALALE – A spider relocation project near Lephalale in Limpopo by diversified miner, Exxaro Resources, has shown positive and promising success and is attracting the attention of a host of other organisations interested in the rehabilitation and enhancement of biodiversity.

The relocation of populations of the golden-brown baboon spider (Augacephalus junodi) and burst horned baboon spider (Ceratogyrus darlingi) is the first such project involving these species in southern Africa.

According to the project team, consisting of Exxaro’s ecologist Koos Smit, research manager at Exxaro’s Manketti Game Reserve, Marius Fuhls, and entomologist Dr Dawid Jacobs, who was appointed to conduct the relocation and research, the project enables the company to mitigate the impact of its operations on biodiversity by relocating these spiders.

“We now know that if we need to relocate such spiders in future, we have successfully done the science, and this will speed up processes. The research and findings have given Exxaro not just the ability to re-establish an ecosystem functioning quicker in rehabilitated areas, but they will provide other industrial operations with an effective method to help re-establish a particular species in disturbed areas successfully,” said Smit.

The project came about due to construction activities at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine which is being expanded to provide coal for Eskom’s new Medupi power station nearby.

During the vegetation clearing phase, baboon spiders were observed and it was decided to move them to a safer area as they are long-living invertebrates protected under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. The spiders are protected due to being caught illegally for the pet trade, but the two species used in this project are not endangered.

There was no proven method for the relocation of baboon spiders so Exxaro, with inputs from Dr Dawid Jacobs of the University of Pretoria, initiated a scientific research project to determine if the two species of baboon spiders could be relocated successfully.

“We said we would be happy if over a period of one week, 50% accepted their new burrows, so we were surprised and absolutely thrilled with a 95% acceptance rate,” said Marius Fuhls.

“Of course, as Eskom provided a rehabilitated relocation test site, they’re also very excited about the results. Construction company Basil Read heard about the project and brought through a number of spiders they had discovered while working on the Mokolo pipeline project in the Lephalale area, and another mining company, BHP Billiton, has expressed interest in our project as well,” said Fuhls.

“I am really proud to have been involved in a project like this. It’s the first time in southern Africa that such a project has been conducted, giving us an opportunity to add to the body of knowledge about spiders and contribute to scientific research. It has given us an opportunity to show that while mining will impact an area, we do have mitigation methods, thereby giving us an opportunity to meet our commitment to sustainability.”

Exxaro will continue to monitor the burrows of the relocated populations to determine survival rates and will also continue to look for similar projects for future research opportunities.

Artificial burrows were created using hand-made soil augers with different diameters to create 200 man-made burrows for the relocated baboon spiders.