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Abstract The diversity, distribution and relative abundance of medium and large-sized mammals were studied in the newly
established Baroye Controlled Hunting Area, Southwestern Ethiopia. The study covers two seasons extending between January and
September, 2014. Three habitats types, grassland, woodland, and riverine forest were identified in the study area. A line transect
survey method was implemented to record the mammalian diversity. Of the 38 arbitrarily established transects, 11 (5 from the
grassland and 3 each from the woodland and riverine habitats) were randomly selected and permanently surveyed for two seasons.
Each transect was surveyed twice a month for three months per season. A total of 23 species of mammals from 7 orders and 13
families were recorded from the area. Only five species including the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and Bush hare (Lepus fagani)
were from medium sized mammals. Among the 18 large sized mammals, the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) was the most
abundant. The leopard (Panthera pardus), lion (P. leo), African civet (Civettictis civetta), honey badger (Mellivora capensis) and
black backed jackal (Canis mesamolas) were represented by few individuals. Riverine forest harbored the highest mammalian
species (H=2.37) followed by the woodland (H=2.23) during the dry season. During the wet season, diversity was highest in the
woodland (H=2.25). The similarity of mammalian species between the riverine forest and woodland were very high during both
seasons (SI=0.66), and least between riverine forest and grassland (SI=0.38). Owing to the high faunal diversities, upgrading the
current controlled hunting area into higher protected area category will have immense significance to better conserve the unique
ecosystem and faunal resource of the area.
Keywords Baroye controlled hunting; Mammals; Diversity; Distribution; Relative abundance
(OFWE) proposed it under controlled hunting area families, Bovidae contributed the highest (five
category. However, except for the few preliminary species), followed by Cercopitheci (four species) and
surveys conducted by OFWE, no attempt was made to Felidae (three species). While Suidae was represented
systematically record the mammalian faunal diversity by two species, the remaining families includinf
that is crucial both for the management (for assigning Hystricidae, Leporidae, Procaviidae, Oryctestidae,
appropriate mammals for controlled hunting) (Wihart,
Hyaenidae, Canidae, Hyrpestidae, Mustelidae and
2004), or to document the faunal resource to recommend
Viverridae were represented by one species each (Table 1).
appropriate conservation strategies (Varman and
Sukumar, 1995). Seasonal variations were observed in the mammalian
As also the experience of most protected area species composition and number of individuals among
categories of Ethiopia, the medium and large-sized habitats and between seasons. Accordingly, the highest
mammals of the Baroye Controlled Hunting Area number of species (17) was recorded in the riverine
(BCHA) are facing challenges for the highest hunting forest during the dry season and the least was from
pressure, habitat destruction for agricultural expansion, Grassland (10 species) during the dry season (Table 2).
competition for resource with domestic animals and Likewise, the highest number of individual mammals
illegal encroachments. Medium and large-sized mammals (475) was recorded from the riverine forest during the
are most vulnerable and intolerant for the slightest dry season and the least (135 individuals) from the
habitat changes, hence used as indicators for habitat grassland habitat during the same season. Within
quality and stability. The continual deteriorating trends
habitat, the seasonal abundance of mammals was
of the status of wildlife in the protected areas are
significantly vary for all habitats (grassland: 2 =26.7,
frightening. Unless serious management interventions
1 df, P<0.05; Woodland: 2=46.3, 1 df, P<0.05 and
are taken, the condition becomes very crucial when it
comes to the new candidates to protected area Riverine forest: 2 =48.0, 1 df, P<0.05).
categories like BCHA. In any cases, fast recording of 1.2 Mammalian species richness and evenness
the biological resources of the areas precedes and Among the three habitat types, riverine forest supported
managerial and conservation measures. Therefore, the
the greatest diversity of mammals (H =2.37) during
present study was aimed to record the medium and
the dry season followed by woodland during wet
large-sized mammalian species of BCHA and to
season (H=2.25). The highest species evenness was
determine their association to the diverse habitats as a
base line to catalogue the faunal diversity of the area. obtained from woodland during wet seasons (J=0.85)
and riverine forest during dry season (J=0.84) (Table 3).
1 Results
1.1 Species composition 1.3 Relative abundance of mammals
During the present study, a total of 1 720 (965 and 755 Among the 23 species of mammals recorded, African
during the dry and wet seasons, respectively) individual buffalo (S. caffer) was the most abundant species
mammals distributed in 23 species, 13 families and 7 (contributing 24.24% and 22.07% individuals during
orders were recorded from Baroye Controlled Hunting the wet and dry seasons, respectively). With 21.72%
Area (Table 1). Among these, only five species: (during the wet) and 20.73% (dry season), Olive
Crested porcupine (Hystrix cristata), Vervet monkey baboon (P. anubis) was the second most abundant
(Chlorocebus aethiopis), Bush hare (Lepus fagani), mammal, while Leopard (P. pardus) (with 0.13% and
Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and White tailed 0.52%) and Lion (P. leo) (0.26% and 0.41%) during
mongoose (Icheumia albicauda) were considered the wet and dry seasons, respectively, were the least
medium-sized and the remaining were large-sized abundant species (Table 4).
mammals. The African civet (Civetticitis civetta) was
indirectly recorded, using its scat. From all the recorded
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Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1-9
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Table 1 Medium and large-sized mammalian species recorded from Baroye controlled hunting area, Illubabor Zone, southwest
Ethiopia
Order Family Common name Scientific name Identification methods
Colobus monkey Colobus abyssinicus Visual
De brazzas monkey Cercopithecus neglectus Visual
Primate Cercopitheci Vervet monkey Chlorocebus aethiopis Visual
Olive baboon papio anubis Visual
Rodentia Hystricidae Crested porcupine Hystrix cristata Visual/spine
Lagomorpha Leporidae Bush hare Lepus fagani Visual
Hyracoidea Procaviidae Rock hyrax Procavia capensis Visual
Tubulidentata Oryctestidae Aardvark Orycteropus afer Visual/hole
Artidactyla Bovidae Common bushbuck Traglaphus scriptus Visual
Common reedbuck Redunca arundinum Visual
Grey Duiker Sylvicapra grimmia Visual
African buffalo Syncerus caffer Visual/faeces
Tora harte beest Alcelaphus buselaphus Visual
Suidae Bush pig Potamochoerus larvatus Visual/faeces
Warthog Phacochoerus africanus Visual
Carnivora Hyaenidae Striped hyena Hynae hynae Visual/faeces
Viverridae African civet Civetticitis civetta Scat
Canidae Black backed jackal Canis mesamolas Visual
Hyrpestidae White tailed mongoose Icheumia albicauda Visual
Mustelidae Honey badger Mellivora capensis Visual
African wild cat Felis servestris Visual
Felidae Leopard Panthera pardus Visual/scat
Lion Panthera leo Visual /sound
Table 2.Seasonal abundance (number of individuals counted) and distribution of mammals among different habitats in Baroye
controlled hunting area, Illubabor Zone, southwest Ethiopia
Species Grassland Woodland Riverine forest
Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet
C. abyssinicus (colobus monkey) 0 0 45 20 50 50
C. neglectus (De brazzas monkey) 0 0 3 5 15 11
C. aethiopis (vervet monkey) 0 15 46 38 102 54
p. anubis (olive baboon) 34 68 84 44 82 52
H. cristata (crested porcupine) 0 8 4 0 12 7
L. fagani (Bush hare) 0 7 8 7 8 0
P. capensis (rock hyrax) 0 0 14 9 14 7
O. afer (aardvark) 6 10 5 6 0 5
T. scriptus (common bushbuck) 11 9 16 4 0 0
R. arundinum (Common reed buck) 9 11 6 0 0 0
S. grimmia (Grey Duiker) 6 6 9 5 0 0
P. larvatus (bush pig) 0 9 12 12 12 7
P. africanus (warthog) 0 0 0 0 18 13
S. caffer (African buffalo) 47 95 80 50 86 38
A. buselaphus (Tora harte beest) 11 14 7 0 0 0
H. hynae (striped hyena) 0 0 0 0 13 7
F. servestris (African wild cat) 5 3 9 0 10 8
C. mesamolas (blacked back jackal) 0 0 7 4 14 5
I. albicauda (white tailed mongoose) 0 0 0 7 10 6
M. capensis (honey badger) 0 0 0 0 14 8
C. civetta (African civet) 0 0 0 8 12 0
P. pardus (leopard) 2 1 0 0 3 0
P. leo (lion) 4 2 0 0 0 0
Total No. of individuals per habitat 135 258 355 219 475 278
Total No. of species per habitat 10 14 16 14 17 15
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Table 3 Diversity indices of medium and large sized mammals in different habitat types during dry and wet seasons
Habitat type No. of Species No. of individuals SWI (H' ) H 'max H'/ H 'max
Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet Dry Wet
Grassland 10 14 135 258 1.87 1.92 2.30 2.63 0.81 0.73
Riverine forest 17 15 475 278 2.37 2.16 2.83 2.70 0.84 0.8
Table 4 Relative abundance of medium and large sized mammalian species recorded in the study area during dry and wet seasons
1.4 Occurrence of mammals and riverine forest both during the dry (SI =0.67) and
Of the 23 species of mammals recorded for the Baroye wet seasons (SI =0.66) and followed by the species
Controlled Hunting area, during this study, 9 species between grassland and woodland habitats (with SI
(39.13%) were common, 9 species (39.13%) were values of 0.64 and 0.65 during the wet and dry
uncommon and 5 (21.74%) species were rare (Table 5).
seasons, respectively). However, with the SI value of
1.5 Species similarity 0.48 (during the wet) and 0.31 (during the dry season),
Among the three habitat types, the highest mammalian mammalian species were least similar between
species similarity was observed between woodland grassland and riverine habitats.
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Table 5 Occurrence of mammals in Baroye controlled hunting area, Ilubabor Zone, southwest Ethiopia
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hospitable for mammals. was obtained from woodland and riverine forest both
during the dry and wet seasons followed by grassland
In abundance, the three primate species, the Olive
and woodland. The reason for the observed similarity
baboon (Papio anubis), Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus
aethiopis) and Colobus monkey (Colobus abyssinicus) may be because the resource and cover conditions of
stood from the second to fourth level, respectively, in these two habitats are relatively similar to each other
both seasons. They particularly favored the riverine than either to the grassland habitat. The species
and woodland habitats and Colobus totally absent similarity was relatively less between the riverine and
from grassland. From their high reproductive grassland than the transitional woodland habitat. This
success, the diversified foraging behavior (Johnson et record contradicts with the findings by Mengesha and
al., 2012) and for the abundance of alternative prey Bekele (2008) and Gonfa et al. (2015) that report high
species for carnivores, the abundance of these species mammalian species similarity between woodland and
was highly predicted. Studies from different localities, grassland habitat.
in Ethiopia, reported the abundance of these primate
species in riverine and woodland habitats (Girma and As short term conservation measures, delineating the
and Bekele, 2008; Fetene et al., 2011; Woldegiorgis mosaic borders, specifying appropriate species and
and Tilaye, 2012). setting law enforced quota for hunting may increase
the importance of the area as a key wildlife area in the
During this study, some mammals including Leopard region. As long term conservation measures, however,
(P. pardus), Lion (P.leo), African civet (C. civetta), the national wildlife conservation authority, based on
honey badger (M. capensis) and black backed jackal the current and potential biological resources of the
(C. mesamolas) were least abundant. Information area, should design appropriate management plan to
from local informants, however, the former two big upgrade the current status to higher protected area
cats were abundant and occasionally predate livestock, categories with all the logistics and personnel are
lions blamed most. As the consequence, there was recommended to safeguard the ecosystem and the
high human-lion conflict in the area and many lions resources there in.
were persecuted each year. The reason for the present
recode may be attributed to their cryptic nature and 3 Materials and Methods
the demand for high home range. During this study 3.1 The Study Area
the African civet was blamed for crop raiding, black This study was conducted in Baroye Controlled
backed jackals for predating sheep and goats, and Hunting Area, Oromia National Regional State, Metu
honey badger for bee hive breaking. In Ethiopia, the District, southwest Ethiopia. BCHA is located
least abundance records were common for these between 36 P740000 and 770000 East and between 36
species in different localities (e.g. Chane and Yirga, P928000 and 942000 North and covers an area of 335
2014; Gonfa et al., 2015). km2 (Figure 1). The altitude within the study area
Mammals in the present study area show no uniform ranges between 1350 and 1811 m asl. The area is
distribution among the three habitats. Hence, their within the southwestern tropical forest best receiving
abundance significantly varies among habitats about 1705 mm average annual rainfall (ranging
between seasons. More mammals shift from grassland between 1527 and 2015 mm). The average annual
to the riverine and woodland habitats during the dry temperature of the area is 19.9 oC and shows little
season. Such seasonal movement in search of variation through the year (EMA, 2014). The area is
resources conditions is common in mammals (Yaba et characterized by rugged landscape dissected by
al., 2011; Girma et al., 2012). perennial rivers including Sor, Geba, Offa and Chebel.
Three habitat types Grassland (60%), Woodland (25%)
Regarding species similarity among the three habitat and Riverine forest, are recognized in the study area,
types of the study area, the highest species similarity the latter being the smallest (15%).
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Intl. J. of Mol. Evol. and Biodivers. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1-9
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and 7 kg) and large sized (those over 7 kg body mass) Wildlife Enterprise, Metu branch and scouts of the controlled
mammals. According to this classification, mammals hunting area for their valuable guidance and cooperation during
such as small carnivores and primates, large rodents, the time of data collection in controlled hunting area.
hyraxes, and pangolins are grouped under medium and
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