Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania | Report ...

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Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park 3.2.2 Camera Trapping Camera trapping proved to be much more successful than transects at detecting cryptic and nocturnal species. Twenty-four species were recorded by camera traps set at 65 stations in three sites over 646 Trap Days (Table 2, 3, Appendix II). The combined total of species recorded by transects and camera traps was 30, or 36% of the mammal species know to occur in Mahale Mountains National Park. These two methods are designed for very different applications, however there was quite a bit of overlap, and the camera traps recorded 50% of the species found on the transects. Species found on the transects, but not in the camera trap sampling were arboreal monkeys, a squirrel and buffalo, an animal that is only seasonally present in the areas surveyed. Table 2 Camera Trap-Days at Mahale Mountains National Park Date (2005) Location No. Cameras Trap Days 21Oct – 4 Nov Kasoge 36 341 5–11 November Kabezi 20 262 15–22 November Mfitwa 8 43 TOTAL 64 646 The number of photos of each particular animal provides a rough measure of relative abundance. However, these data should be interpreted with caution. It is possible that some species were photographed multiple times by the same camera. For instance, if a camera were set in an area encompassing the daily activity patterns of a Blue duiker, the same individual would be photographed multiple times. Whereas, another animal living in the same area, with a similar overall density but different activity patterns, may have been photographed only once. This method is very useful where individual recognition is possible and, over the long term, may be the only viable method estimating the minimum numbers of cryptic species such as leopards. 3.2.3 Bucket pitfalls and live-traps Bucket pitfall traps were not very successful in capturing small mammals because of very dry weather during most of the survey. None were captured at Kasoge and very few at Kabezi and Mfitwa. For the amount of effort involved in setting these, the return was extremely small in terms of numbers. Nevertheless, the bucket pitfall lines did add three species of shrew to the survey species list. At least two of these, a Crocidura sp. from Kabezi and a tiny shrew from Mfitwa were additions to the park list. So, even with very poor trap success, this method made a significant contribution to the survey. The pitfall line set in montane forest from 18–20 November 2005 had 33 total trap nights with a success rate of 3%. The pitfall line set in montane grassland from 21–23 November was the most successful with four Dendromus nyikae and four of a tiny shrew species captured. The overall trap success rate was 24.2% with 33 trap nights. The trapline start and end points at Mfitwa were as follow: Forest pitfall start - S6.13715, E29.80088 Forest pitfall end - S6.13747, E29.80134 Grassland pitfall start - S6.14005, E29.80250 Grassland pitfall end - S6.14003, E29.80294 Wildlife Conservation Society 7
Biodiversity of Mahale Mountains National Park Table 3 Mammal species and number of photos recorded by camera traps set at three localities Mahale Mountains National Park. Species Kasoge Kabezi Mfitwa Combined Aardvark 4 6 10 African civet 2 4 6 African clawless Otter 2 2 African elephant 22 22 Blue duiker 149 23 4 176 Blue monkey 1 1 Bush duiker 15 15 Bushbuck 12 65 2 79 Bushpig 103 18 2 123 Bushy-tailed mongoose 31 10 41 Chimpanzee 43 7 50 Crested porcupine 11 11 Giant pangolin 3 4 7 Giant pouched rat 7 9 16 Hippopotamus 6 6 Large spotted genet 3 13 1 17 Leopard 16 2 18 Serval 1 1 Slender mongoose 1 1 Spotted hyena 5 5 Tree porcupine 1 1 White-tailed mongoose 1 1 Warthog 4 4 Yellow baboon 44 2 46 Total No. Species 19 16 5 24 Results from the Sherman live-trap survey were quite good. A total of 37 animals were captured in 240 trap nights (Table 4). The overall success rate was 15.4% – 17.5% for the montane forest and 14.2% for the montane grassland. At least eight species were added to the survey list, two of these were new for the park. It may be that the collection of Praomys from the forest will prove to be of two species but final identification has not yet been made. 3.2.4 Direct and indirect incidental observations The number of mammal species recorded during this survey was 51. Indirect observations of species not found during systematic surveys contributed 1 record, or 25.5% to this total. These were mostly arboreal, nocturnal, or low-density species that were see or heard opportunistically while in camp, at night or during walks between survey sites. Six of the species recorded in this manner were first records for Mahale. Two of these, a dwarf galago and a very small forest genet, have not been identified yet and may be un-described forms or major range extensions of know species. Wildlife Conservation Society 8
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Page 5 and 6: 2. BACKGROUND Biodiversity of Mahal
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Page 29 and 30: 8. REFERENCES Biodiversity of Mahal
Page 39 and 40: Stonechat √ Striped Kingfisher
Page 55 and 56: Monanthotaxis buchananii Monanthota
Page 57 and 58: Baikaea insignis Baphiopsis parvifl
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Gladiolus erectiflorus Gladiolus gr
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†Thecacoris lucida Orchidaceae Ae
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Rothmannia longiflora Rothmannia ma
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