Distribution And Abundance Of Mammals Along The Biodiversity Hotspot Of The Coastal Forests Of Eastern Africa

This chapter gives an overview of the distribution and abundance of mammals along the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa. We found that the coastal forests of Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania supported at least 158 mammal species, including bats (58), rodents (>27), carnivores (19), primates (14), and shrews (14) belonging to 22 families and 11 orders, including the critically endangered Aders’ duiker, African wild dog, African lion, Pousargues’s monkey, lesser kudu, a distinctive form of giant sengi, and the vulnerable Sokoke bushy-tailed mongoose, which were widely distributed and relatively abundant. In addition, 31 species (20%) in these forests were forest specialists, and 109 species were generalists. Moreover, about 16 mammal species were found inhabiting the Zaraninge coastal forest region in Tanzania, and about 39 different mammal species were found inhabiting the northern coastal forests of Kenya in the Arabuko-Sokoke forest and the Boni-Dodori forest system. Despite of that currently, the majority of mammalian species inhabiting the Eastern African Coastal Forests are suffering mainly from their habitat loss as a result of forest fragmentation and degradation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to better conserve the habitats of these mammals to ensure their long-term survival and growth within the entire forest ecosystem.