Madagascar There are many islands around the coast of Africa but Madagascar the fourth-largest island in the world situated several hundred kilometres off the east coast of southern Africa is especially important for endangered animals The reason for its importance is that it has been separated from the African mainland for around 165 million years Its isolation led to the development of many unique mammals birds reptiles and amphibians descended either from animals that were present when Madagascar first became an island or from species that later crossed the ocean from the African mainland Many of these endemic animals have died out since the arrival of people especially the largest animals which were hunted for food Madagascar supports 99 species and subspecies of lemurs 39 of which were first described by zoologists between 2000 and 2008 Of the 51 that were evaluated by the IUCN that year 43 were believed to be threatened six of them Critically Endangered More than 100 birds species are found nowhere else in the world and half of these live only in a relatively small area Five bird famiies mesites ground-rollers cuckoo-rollers asities and vangas live only on Madagascar and the Comoro Islands A big problem facing some of these birds and mammals such as the lemurs is habitat destruction Madagascar does have several impressive national parks but as in many other areas of Africa poverty drives people to cut timber for fuel and hunt animals for food Unless the problem of human poverty is addressed it will remain very difficult to conserve populations of endangered animals this species in the countries of the Sahel including 140 in the Central African Republic where there has since been serious civil unrest Cheetahs and lions both Vulnerable species no longer live in many parts of the Sahel but small numbers remain in Chad and Niger for example As in the Sahara Desert there are still dama and dorcas gazelles but their numbers are much reduced The seasonal wetlands of the Sahel are important areas for migratory birds moving within Africa and using the great flyways between Europe and Asia and southern Africa Savanna grasslands Africa’s most magnificent habitats are its savannas which cover almost half the continent’s area Savanna is a grassland environment and climate is the most important factor in creating it It is crucial that the rainfall is concentrated in six or eight months of the year followed by a long period of drought when fires can occur If the rain was spread evenly throughout the year many such areas would support more trees and would eventually become tropical forest Different savannas support different kinds of grasses and other vegetation and therefore different animals Drier savannas include the Serengeti plains of Tanzania 6 and Kenya’s Laikipia plateau One variety of savanna common in southwest Kenya Tanzania and Uganda is called grouped-tree grassland trees grow only on termite mounds with the intervening soil being too thin or poorly drained to support tree growth Fire often started by lightning is important in maintaining the character of the savanna Although there are many animal casualties savanna fires do not devastate the animal life Most of those killed are invertebrates whose populations generally recover quickly Birds are attracted to the margins of the fires to eat the insects lizards and small mammals escaping the flames Larger animals can usually run fast enough to escape The fauna of the savanna is one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles For this reason some large areas are protected For example the Serengeti Mara National Park in northern Tanzania is a United Nations World Heritage Site About 3 million large mammals live in it including lions cheetahs leopards African elephants giraffes zebras hyenas and African wild dogs Despite the protection given to the park there have nevertheless been problems with poaching Kruger National Park in South Africa is home to at least 147 mammal species including white rhinoceros
HABITATS THREATS AND CONSERVATION 7
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC O Giant Mole-rat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus The giant mole-rat is an inhabitant of the harsh remote Ethiopian highlands Little is known about the species but it is clear that it faces increased competition from domestic grazing animals The giant mole-rat is an example of a species that may well be close to extinction or it may be more resilient than we think Scientists do not know for sure because it has not been studied in great detail The species was first described in 1842 by a German explorer who based his report on a single skin from an unknown locality The animal was next reported in 1900 in the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia but was forgotten again for the next half century It was rediscovered in the 1960s and the first ecological observations were made in the mid-1970s Giant mole-rats appear to be confined to the high moorland plateau of the Bale Mountains where they live at altitudes of up to 13,600 feet 4,150 m They are rabbit sized and therefore much larger than the common mole-rats for example East African mole DATA PANEL Giant mole-rat Tachyoryctes macrocephalus Family Rhizomyidae World population Unknown Distribution Bale Mountains south eastern Ethiopia Habitat High-altitude moorland above 9,840 ft 3,000 m Size Length head body 6 7 12 3 in 17 31 3 cm tail 1 4 2 6 in 3 5 6 5 cm Weight 5 32 oz 40 930 g Form Short-legged thickset animal with soft yellowish-brown fur and huge orange incisor teeth Tiny ears and eyes 8 Diet Green vegetation Breeding Unknown Related endangered species King mole-rat Tachyoryctes rex EN Naivasha mole-rat T naivashae EN Mianzini mole-rat T annectens EN audacious mole-rat T audax VU Ankole mole-rat T ankoliae VU lesser mole-rat Spalax leucodon DD Status IUCN EN SUDAN Lake Turkana KENYA ERITREA Lake Tana ETHIOPIA rats found at lower altitudes elsewhere in Africa In the Bale Mountains the nights are often extremely cold especially during the dry season when the skies are clear During the day however the sun can heat the surface of the ground to 75 F 23 C In such conditions the mole-rats come out only during the day They keep a watchful lookout for predators particularly the Ethiopian wolf buzzards and various other birds of prey The mole-rats eyes are placed high up on the skull so the animals do not need to come far out of their burrows to scrutinize the skies above If the coast is clear they emerge a little farther to gather food without ever venturing more than halfway out into the open Instead they quickly scrape together all the green foliage within reach and drag it back underground The mole-rats pick out the choice morsels in the safety of the tunnel and then push the rest back to the surface to form a heap of plant debris When the food resources around one burrow entrance are exhausted usually in less than 20 minutes they extend the tunnel farther to collect more food In the late afternoon they plug all the exits with soil to keep out the cold night air The mole rats are so wary that they seem to spend less than an hour a day at the surface YEMEN DJIBOUTI SOMALIA Competition in a Limited Range The giant mole-rat’s tunnels seem to be interconnected and may be shared by two or more animals In places large numbers of giant mole-rats can occupy a small area of ground perhaps as many as 12,500 per square mile 5,000
GIANT MOLE-RAT Giant mole-rats enjoy one major advantage over their lowland-dwelling cousins East African mole rats Their high-altitude habitat remains unsuitable for cultivation which has caused the extinction of mole rats in parts of Europe and the Middle East However other species of Tachyoryctes for example Mianzina mole-rat and king mole-rat are already endangered elsewhere in Africa and in time the same fate may still befall the largest species of all in Ethiopia The giant mole-rat unlike other Tachyoryctes species often called root rats elsewhere in Africa seems to depend on surface vegetation rather than on roots for its food Consequently it will be more affected by competition from domestic grazers as they become more numerous in the Ethiopian mountains per sq km The problem for the species is that only a limited area is available to it Mole-rats need deep soil in which to dig their tunnels but much of their mountain habitat consists of rocky slopes Parts of the mountain plateau where they live are too wet for them to burrow in Consequently populations live mainly in the wide valleys and not on the rocky ridges in between Each valley and patch of suitable habitat has its own separate population and the animals probably do not mix very much since they hardly ever leave their burrows In the past these high-altitude moorlands were uninhabited but farmers have since settled in the area Livestock including herds of goats and cattle tramples the ground and grazes on the vegetation needed by the giant mole-rats Domestic dogs have also been added to the animal’s list of potential predators The additional activity from humans and animals can only have the effect of discouraging the cautious mole-rats from emerging from their burrows further reducing the time available to them for gathering food 9
