Biodiversity Surveys of Poorly Known Coastal Forests of ...

4.2.1.4. Mammals
Some of the small mammals recorded were those of woodlands and generally mammals detected
were not regarded as typically associated with forest, such as Acomys sp., the Spiny Mouse.
However the rodent Beamys hindei is often associated with forest and it is widely distributed in
coastal and Eastern Arc Mountain forests. The identification and distribution of squirrels is a
complex topic in East Africa, but the two species captured would seem to be common residents
of coastal forest. The Galagos (bushbabies) are best studied using specialist techniques involving
recording of vocalisations, but the three species we detected would be regarded as “expected to
occur” in coastal forests. Elephant Shrews as a group are of conservation interest but the two
species of elephant shrew present based on our surveys are known to be of rather widespread
occurrence and are not strict forest endemics, and they tolerate some human disturbance.
The largest species of mammal encountered, the African Elephant, is on Appendix I of CITES.
In the study area it was hunted illegally and especially in riverine situations, vulnerable because
of its need for water. We were told, and saw, that elephants concentrated in the riverine areas in
the dry season and only moved away from these during the wetter season. Lions and leopard,
also listed on the CITES Appendices, occurred and the presence of a female leopard in camp
with two cubs indicates a breeding record for that species. Many of the larger ungulates appeared
to be under pressure from poaching, and they were present in only small numbers. We witnessed
poaching of medium sized mammals (bush pigs); the meat of which was dried and smoked.
Snares, probably set for small ungulates, were also encountered in the forests.
Human wildlife conflict in the riverine forest areas was high, elephants are crop-raiders and
hippos may damage crops and people; one of our assistants bore the scars of an interaction with a
hippo.
Important coastal forest endemics from our study and the desk top study included Pteropus
voeltzkowi, Procolobus kirkii, and Genetta servalina) (an introduced species).
One of the positive results of the desk top study and use of the Biodiversity Database of the
Dept. of Zoology & Wildlife Conservation was the discovery of an early record of the Palm
Civet from Jozani forest (specimen in the National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi), well before that
of the observation of Perkin (2004).
Ensuring the continued existence of natural forest will assist the survival of smaller mammals,
but for those that are hunted for their meat and are of a larger size, greater protection from
poaching is needed.
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