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
The dense lowland forests of northern Cameroon eastern Nigeria and the island of Bioko which lies 20 miles 34 km off the coast of Equatorial Guinea are the last refuges of the drill a monkey that is closely related to the mandrill Both the drill and the mandrill are baboons They are powerful stocky animals that will fight if disturbed The drill’s range is thought to be only 15,000 square miles 40,000 sq km with most of the remaining population living in one national park at Korup in Cameroon This alarming situation led the IUCN to make the drill their highest priority African primate in 1995 Since then there has been a concerted effort to set aside and protect areas of habitat in order to provide the drills with some security in the future Drills are omnivores They eat fruit vegetable material and small animals They are forest-dwellers and prefer to live in mature untouched NIGERIA Bioko Equatorial Guinea CAMEROON EQUATORIAL GUINEA GABON forest known as primary forest Drills have begun to return to areas where felled trees have been allowed to regenerate but these so-called secondary forests are by no means ideal habitats for the monkeys Secondary forest tends to have fewer species of mature trees and provides a restricted range of foods This kind of forest is not able to support whole populations of drills but where it exists alongside patches of primary forest it is better than nothing Unfortunately very few areas of cleared forest are allowed to return to nature in this way Occasionally some are replanted with nonnative tree species that might make profitable timber in the future but this does not provide an ideal habitat for the drills After the timber has been removed most of the clear-felled land is plowed over and planted with crops such as manioc bananas and oil palms The drills can and do eat these crops much to the annoyance of local farmers The animals are therefore often treated as pests and are farmers shoot or trap them to prevent further damage to crops Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus A large short-tailed monkey and a relative of the mandrill the drill is the highest primate conservation priority on the African mainland Emergency measures are needed to prevent this Endangered species and its habitat from disappearing EX EW CR EN VU NT LC O Drill Mandrillus leucophaeus Family Cercopithecidae World population 3,000 8,000 Distribution Cameroon southeastern Nigeria and Bioko Island Equatorial Guinea Habitat Lowland forest 10 DATA PANEL Size Length 18 35 5 in 45 90 cm male up to twice as big as female Weight about 33 lb 15 kg Form Large stout-bodied baboon with short tail Large head with black face fringed with white fur fur elsewhere grayish brown Males have mane of thicker fur and hairless buttocks of varying shades of red pink and blue Diet Fruit seeds roots fungi insects and some small vertebrates Breeding Single young born at any time of year but mostly December April after gestation of about 8 months mature at 5 years Life span up to 29 years Related endangered species Various macaques monkeys and apes including the mandrill Mandrillus sphinx VU Status IUCN EN
Dominant Males Drills are among the mammals that have traditionally been hunted for bushmeat which is considered a delicacy by people in some areas of West Africa Hunters equipped with rifles spotlights when hunting at night and refrigerated trucks can make significant profits by killing large numbers of animals that they then sell in local markets Drills live in conspicuous groups of between 20 and 25 individuals They cannot travel rapidly overland or through the trees so a hunter with a rifle can kill many animals in a very short time Often whole social groups are wiped out at once Not only is this catastrophic in terms of lives lost it wreaks havoc among any surviving members of the troop When senior members of the group’s hierarchy have been killed it takes some time for a new order to be established and the struggle for power will have its own casualties Drill troops are dominated by an alpha male who is usually the biggest and DRILL strongest A male that becomes dominant by default after the old alpha male is killed may not be as effective as his predecessor at defending the troop and fathering healthy offspring An unworthy leader will be replaced sooner or later but the changeover only prolongs the period of upheaval and adjustment that the animals have to make Adult female drills produce an average of only one young every two to three years sometimes there are six years between births Breeding success will be reduced during periods of social unrest within the troop resulting in an even slower rate of recovery To secure a safer future for the drill a protected and suitable habitat must be set aside A conservation plan will need to include persuading and educating the local people of the need to stop hunting the drill The drill right is a little smaller than the mandrill left and has an all-black face with whitish hairs The buttocks of both animals display colors of varying intensity depending on the individual’s age sex breeding condition social status and mood 11
