Fig. 1

The study areas Etosha National Park, Namibia and Kruger National Park, South Africa in southern Africa. Animal silhouettes represent study species in the parks, including springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) in Etosha, impala (Aepyceros melampus) and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) in Kruger, and greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), plains zebra (Equus quagga) and African elephant (Loxodonta africana) in both parks, with buffalo absent in Etosha and springbok in Kruger. Wildebeest is more rarely found in far north of Kruger, and we did not have movement data on impala in Etosha. Host species comprising > 12% of anthrax cases in each park (1976–2014 for Etosha and 2010–2015 for Kruger) are in black; between 12% and 4% are in dark grey; and < 4% are in light grey. The grey areas in Etosha and blue lines in Kruger are salt pans and perennial rivers, respectively which are potential boundaries for animal movements. The scale bar is related to the maps of both parks. The numbers framing southern Africa indicate degrees of latitude and longitude