Mammal Expedition on Kenya's North Coast: Biodiversity Assessment and Training of Early-Career Mammalogists

From 29 May to 3 June 2025, the Mammal Committee of Nature Kenya and the Mammalogy Section of the National Museums of Kenya conducted a multidisciplinary field expedition to northern coastal Kenya aimed at building capacity in mammal identification and distribution mapping, contributing occurrence records to the Mammals of Kenya Atlas (MaKenya) and iNaturalist, and assessing threats to regional biodiversity. Eight participants (four students and four researchers/naturalists) surveyed ecosystems ranging from dry savannas to coastal forests and documented 55 mammal species, including three Critically Endangered, five Endangered, six Vulnerable, and five Near Threatened taxa, with the remainder listed as Least Concern. All mammal records were submitted to MaKenya, while additional records of mammals and other taxa were contributed to iNaturalist. The survey identified major threats to biodiversity, including agricultural expansion that is further restricting the already limited ranges of the Critically Endangered Tana River primates and the Endangered coastal topi, overgrazing by livestock, the spread of invasive species—most notably Prosopis juliflora (“mathenge”)—insufficient formal protection for threatened species outside protected areas, infrastructure development such as newly paved roads that increase roadkill incidence, and inadequate conservation funding. In contrast, positive community-based conservation initiatives were observed, particularly the leadership of Somali communities in conserving the Critically Endangered hirola. Overall, the expedition generated critical distributional data, provided hands-on training for early-career naturalists, strengthened collaborative monitoring of Kenya’s mammal fauna, and underscored the importance of documenting endangered and endemic mammals to guide effective conservation planning.