Explore the vast range of titles available.

Based on sixteen years of fieldwork among the pastoral Turkana people, McCabe examines how individuals use the land and make decisions about mobility, livestock, and the use of natural resources in an environment characterized by aridity, unpredictability, insecurity, and violence. The Turkana are one of the world's most mobile peoples, but understanding why and how they move is a complex task influenced by politics, violence, historical relations among ethnic groups, and the government, as well as by the arid land they call home. As one of the original members of the South Turkana Ecosystem Project, McCabe draws on a wealth of ecological data in his analysis. His long-standing relationship with four Turkana families personalize his insights and conclusions, inviting readers into the lives of these individuals, their families, and the way they cope with their environment and political events in daily life.

Using cooperation in chimpanzees as a case study, this article argues that research on animal minds needs to steer a course between ‘association-blindness’—the failure to consider associative learning as a candidate explanation for complex behaviour—and ‘simple-mindedness’—the assumption that associative explanations trump more cognitive hypotheses. Association-blindness is challenged by the evidence that associative learning occurs in a wide range of taxa and functional contexts, and is a major force guiding the development of complex human behaviour. Furthermore, contrary to a common view, association-blindness is not entailed by the rejection of behaviourism. Simple-mindedness is founded on Morgan's canon, a methodological principle recommending ‘lower’ over ‘higher’ explanations for animal behaviour. Studies in the history and philosophy of science show that Morgan failed to offer an adequate justification for his canon, and subsequent attempts to justify the canon using evolutionary arguments and appeals to simplicity have not been successful. The weaknesses of association-blindness and simple-mindedness imply that there are no short-cuts to finding out about animal minds. To decide between associative and yet more cognitive explanations for animal behaviour, we have to spell them out in sufficient detail to allow differential predictions, and to test these predictions through observation and experiment.

Parts of northern Nigeria are becoming enclaves of banditry for gangs of cattle rustlers who maraud largely ungoverned forests. Extant studies of banditry shy away from serious interrogation of cattle rustling and ungoverned forest spaces in northern Nigeria. Onwuzuruigbo investigates the connection between cattle rustling and ungoverned forest spaces, highlighting the role of criminal groups in creating their own governance structures. The upswing in cattle rustling may thus be attributed to poor forest governance, which effectively keeps the government and its agents away from forests. Inclusive forest governance is one path toward addressing cattle rustling in northern Nigeria.

Cattle rustlings have become a major crime in Nigeria recently, with the northern region being the hardest hit. In the past few years, rustling activities have resulted in the theft of a huge number of cows, deaths of people and destruction of property. Daily reports across the northern region have confirmed that cattle rustlings have significantly contributed to the increasing security challenges facing the Nigerian state and seem to have become big business involving the herders, big-time syndicates, and heavily armed bandits. However, despite the growing level of cattle rustling and its consequences for society, the situation has yet to receive adequate scholarly interrogation. This paper investigates the causes and consequences of, and state responses to cattle rustling in Nigeria. In jüngster Zeit hat sich der Viehraub in Nigeria zu einer bedrohlichen Form der Kriminalität entwickelt; der Norden ist am stärksten betroffen. Viehdiebstähle haben in den vergangenen Jahren zum Raub zahlreicher Rinder, zum Tod von Menschen und zu massiver Zerstörung von Eigentum gefuhrt. Tägliche Berichte über entsprechende Ereignisse im Norden Nigerias bestätigen, dass der Viehdiebstahl inzwischen erheblich zu den wachsenden Sicherheitsproblemen des Landes beiträgt. Er ist zu einem großen Geschäft geworden, an dem Viehhalter, große Syndikate und schwerbewaffnete Banditen beteiligt sind. Trotz des zunehmenden Umfangs der Raubzüge und ihrer gesellschaftlichen Folgen wird diese Situation bislang nicht angemessen wissenschaftlich erforscht. Der vorliegende Beitrag widmet sich den Ursachen und Folgen des Viehdiebstahls in Nigeria und zeigt Reaktionen des Staates auf.

The study examined farmers–herdsmen conflict, cattle rustling, and banditry in Anka and Maradun local government area of Zamfara State, Nigeria. The study examined the influence of farmers–herdsmen conflicts on cattle rustling and banditry, and vice versa. Exploratory research was employed; focus group discussion (FGD) and key informant interview (KII)were used to collect primary data from the respondents. The data generated were transcribed and recorded verbatim (word-for-word account of verbal interview) and they were converted into written form. Data were enumerated and thematic analysis and categorization were provided. Secondary data were sourced from internet and relevant books. This study adopted the environmental resources scarcity and frustration-aggression theory. The findings of the study revealed that farmers–herdsmen conflict precipitates the acts of cattle rustling and banditry. It also revealed that conversely cattle rustling and banditry contributed to the farmers–herdsmen conflict in the local government area of Zamfara State. The study discovered that the synthesis of farmers–herdsmen conflicts, cattle rustling, and banditry pose serious threat to the safety and security of the people. The researchers recommended that there should be an introduction of grazing reserves equipped with adequate social amenities and that there should be policies capable of enhancing herders’ transformation from traditional to the modern method of animal husbandry. They also suggested that various factors responsible for farmers–herdsmen conflict, cattle rustling, and banditry should be properly managed by traditional and religious leaders. The findings corroborate the gaps which the researchers intended to fill

Over time, the conflict between farmers and herdsmen has intensified and transformed into banditry in Zamfara state. While literature underscores the causational and transformational issues, how desperate attempts of the bandits to survive led to fierce upsurges in attacks in the state has not been extensively explored. Hence, this paper examines the bandits' desperation for survival and its impacts on the state. The paper adopts constructionist thematic analysis, and explanatory sequential methods was applied while presenting and analyzing the data from secondary sources and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs). Predicated on eco-survivalism, the bandits' desperate attempts to survive were due to the competing challenge from the vigilantes and the government to eliminate them and their source of illegitimate wealth. They created more ferocious reinvigoration to accomplish their survival goals. It has upscaled deterioration in the attacks and the humanitarian crises in the state. Many lives were lost, kidnapping skyrocketed, and more properties were destroyed, with appalling human displacements. The consequences were a significant drop in agricultural production and loss of livelihood sources, increased health challenges, and the devastating proliferation of out-of-school children. This paper suggests a gradual confidence building through effective security governance for the bandits interested in reducing their desperation while rehabilitating their livelihood sources to ensure peaceful coexistence.

Pastoralist households in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) rely heavily on livestock trade for livelihoods and income. Between 2021 and 2023, the region experienced its worst drought in four decades, marked by six consecutive failed rainy seasons. This study investigates the factors influencing pastoralists’ choice of livestock market channels during this period, focusing on the effects of drought, conflict, and livestock production systems. It also examines how different sources of livestock market information shape trading decisions. Data were collected from 1,053 households using a multistage sampling approach. Analytical methods included Multivariate Probit (MVP) regression and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis. Findings reveal that informal networks, especially neighbours and family, were the most influential sources of market information. In contrast, formal channels such as mobile phone calls and radio had limited impact. Households affected by drought were more likely to sell steers through butcher outlets, reflecting urgent liquidity needs. Conflict significantly reduced participation in local markets, highlighting how insecurity limits access. Across all livestock types, namely steers, heifers, bulls, cows, sheep, and goats, pastoralists engaged in multi-channel marketing strategies shaped by herd size, household demographics, and external shocks. These results underscore the need to strengthen both traditional and digital market information systems that provide timely, localized livestock market intelligence. Supporting livestock marketing cooperatives and Common Interest Groups (CIGs) is also vital to improving coordination and bargaining power. Such interventions are essential for enhancing resilience, market participation, and economic inclusion in Kenya’s drought-prone pastoralist areas.

Bulambuli district in eastern Uganda suffered chronic insecurity arising from cattle rustling since the 1960s and recently became awash with escalating land conflicts. Focusing on the disputed ownership over Plot 94 in Bunambutye, Khanakwa examines the intersection between cattle rustling, land conflicts, and peace-building. While scholarship often overlooks the relationship between livestock theft and social conflict, evidence from Bulambuli highlights the efforts of affected communities vis-à-vis the failures of local political leadership to resolve tensions. The Ugandan government’s failure to enforce recommendations in a timely manner speaks to the urgency of arbitration and cancellation of fraudulent land titles.

Pastoral livestock production as a primary source of livelihood is increasingly becoming unsustainable due to the rapidly changing social context, perennial cattle rustling, unpredictable climatic conditions, and rapid population growth. Migration in response to these changes in social context has often increased competition for land and natural resources between the farmers and pastoralists. Using survey data from 1,750 agro-pastoral households, this study examines the impact of cattle rustling and relative deprivation on shaping the patterns of migration in Nigeria. The results of linear regression show that the loss of livestock, cattle rustling, income diversity, literacy, and herd size are significant determinants of migration patterns. These factors were instrumental in the households’ decision to migrate transitorily or permanently. While the findings indicate that relative deprivation is a significant push factor, migration in response to deprivation and cattle rustling may not necessarily decrease inequality due to weak social capital among the agro-pastoralists. In this sense, increasing pastoral social and economic capital is critical to the reduction of inequality and competition for natural capital. As such, rural livelihood enhancement intervention embedded within the context of a conflict mitigation mechanism is required to decrease the perceived relative deprivation.

This study proposes a framework for remote identification and tracking of cattle movement based on wireless sensor networks (WSN), mobile communication, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The proposed framework can be implemented for tracking cattle movement at the village level and extended to harsh terrain when recovering stolen animals in case of cattle rustling or theft. The system works by identifying and tracking the desired animal location and sending periodic location data at regular intervals to a database as well as availing the specific animal’s current location on demand through the Internet and text messages. The proposed cattle tracking and recovery system (CTRS) consists of a rumen sensor module, a WSN control unit, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) gateway, WiMAX base stations, and a data center. Availing timely information about the location of the stolen animals could facilitate quick recovery of the animals while ensuring the safety of the security personnel involved in the recovery process. Speedy recovery of stolen animals also defeats the purpose of cattle rustling as the rustlers do not have the chance to use the animals for their intended purposes. The proposed system was tested through a MATLAB simulation experiment.