Girma-Eshete-Jenbere-thesis - Ethiopian Wolf Conservation ...

Contacts and conflicts between wolves and humans are bound to increase with increasing human
density and habitat fragmentation. Moreover, the highlands of Ethiopia are among Africa‟s most
highly dense agricultural areas and the resulting human, agricultural, and wolf conflict has been
devastating to the wolf population.
In the heavily populated Northern highlands for example, livestock graze on high altitude
pastures all year round. Circumstantial evidence also suggests that overgrazing in the densely
populated highlands of the North may have negatively impacted upon the highland rodent fauna
(Nievergelt et al., 1998) and that wolves may predate more frequently on livestock (lambs) or
become nocturnal when human interference is severe (Yalden and Largen 1992). To prove this
11 scat samples (fecal samples) collected from Mt. Abune Yoseph and analyzed by EWCP
between February 1998 and February 1999 clearly revealed composition and diversity of the
wolves diet in the area. Analysis of prey remains in 11 wolf scats (fecal samples), representing
Mt. Abune Yoseph wolf populations (Table 1), confirmed that wolves are specialized hunters of
diurnal rodents and rarely smaller livestock (lambs) across their distribution (Marino, 2003).
Table 1: Composition and diversity of diet from wolves scat analysis at Mt. Abune Yoseph
Prey items
Mt. Abune Yoseph
Otomys typus 36%
Arvicanthis spp 23%
Lophuromys spp 14%
Stenocephalemys albocaudata 14%
Praomys albipes 9%
Livestock 5%
(Source: Marino, 2003)
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