New report to Zoological Society for the Conservation of Species and Populations

Thomas M. Butynski and Yvonne A. de Jong
Horn of Africa Antelope Program & Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program

Summary: Northeast Kenya is the most poorly known region in eastern Africa as concerns the taxonomy, distribution, abundance, threats, and conservation status of its larger mammal fauna. Nonetheless, this region has a high number of endemic and threatened genera and species. Among the larger mammals, 15 species of antelope are known to occur. Diurnal surveys, nocturnal surveys, and camera trap surveys were conducted to cover as much of northeast Kenya (130,000 km²) as possible in four fieldtrips (total of 48 days, total distance driven 7,163 km). The objectives of the Northeast Kenya Antelope Survey were to: (1) considerably improve our understanding of their taxonomic status, distribution, relative abundance, and threats to the region’s species of antelope; (2) contribute to the reassessments of their IUCN Red List degree of threat status; (3) provide practical, prioritized, recommendations for ameliorating the threats; and (4) bring local, national, and international attention to the unique biodiversity of northeast Kenya, using antelopes as a flagship group.

During this survey, antelope species were nowhere common outside of protected areas. Ten of the 15 antelope species of northeast Kenya were encountered. The most frequently species encountered was Kirk’s Dik-Dik ,Madoqua (kirkii) kirkii, followed by Southern Gerenuk Litocranius walleri walleri and Bright’s Gazelle Nanger notata. The least common were Common Waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus ellipsiprymnus and Greater Kudu Tragelaphus strepsiceros. The five species not encountered (Common Eland Tragelaphus oryx, Salt’s Dik-Dik Madoqua saltiana, Common Duiker Sylvicapra grimmia, Peter’s Gazelle Nanger petersii, Coke’s Hartebeest Alcelaphus buselaphus cokii) have geographic ranges that are on the margins of this region. ...read the full summary and full report on: https://www.wildsolutions.nl/northeast-kenya-antelope-survey/

By Yvonne A. de Jong and Thomas M. Butynski
Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program, Nanyuki, Kenya

It took us only a second to realize what we were looking at. On the track in front of our Land Rover was a flat, turtle-like, creature scurrying from one rocky hill (or ‘kopje) to another. What we were seeing was an adult male Pancake Tortoise (or Crevice Tortoise Malacochersus tornieri). The Pancake Tortoise is referred to locally, in Kiswahili, as ‘Kobe kama Chapati’---Chapati Tortoise.

Read the full blog on www.wildsolutions.nl/pancake-tortoise

Brief Communication in African Primates 17(2): 95-98 (2023)

By Benjamin W. Kitamya¹, Yvonne A. de Jong², Antoine M. Isak¹, Albert B. Walanga¹, and Thomas M. Butynski²

¹Kabobo Biodiversity Conservation Project, Kabobo Wildlife Reserve, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
²Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program, Nanyuki, Kenya

Read the full paper here: https://www.wildsolutions.nl/prigogines-angola-colobus/
iNat link to record: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/195823340

If you have a record of C. a. prigoginei, or any of the other primates of the Kabobo-Luama Landscape, please either upload your records to iNaturalist, insert the details on http://www.wildsolutions.nl/research/record/ or send them by email to: yvonne@wildsolutions.nl.

Thank you!

Designation of a New Subspecies of Angola Colobus Colobus angolensis Sclater, 1860 (Primates: Cercopithecidae) Endemic to the Mahale Mountains of Western Tanzania
By Yvonne A. de Jong and Thomas M. Butynski. Primate Conservation 37.

Read about it here: https://www.wildsolutions.nl/mahale-angola-colobus/

Happy to announce that the 2nd edition of “Primates of East Africa Pocket Identification Guide” is now freely available at https://shorturl.at/mptGO

Happy to announce: Pocket Identification Guide of the Primates of Northeast Africa.
Illustrations and design by Stephen D. Nash. 36 taxa, 20 maps, 3 vocal profiles and a checklist. Download a copy on https://www.wildsolutions.nl/pocket-guide-primates-northeast-africa/

New publication in Mammalia

Biogeography and conservation of desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus (Artiodactyla: Suidae) in the Horn of Africa.

By Yvonne A. de Jong, Jean-Pierre d'Huart & Thomas M. Butynski

We dedicated this article to Dr. Peter Grubb, who passed away in 2006. Peter led the ‘re-discovery’ of P. aethiopicus and published much of the early information on the taxonomy, biogeography, and conservation of this species, paving the way for us, 20 years later, to present what we currently know about one of Africa’s least known large mammals.

Thank you all for sharing your important warthog records here on iNat!

Abstract: Two species of warthog are currently widely recognised, the poorly known desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus and the widely distributed common warthog Phacochoerus africanus. Spatial data for both species were collected during field surveys and from the literature, museums, colleagues, naturalists, local experts, and online resources to assess their biogeography in the Horn of Africa (HoA). Their distributions were overlaid with ArcGIS datasets for altitude, rainfall, temperature, and ecoregions. Phacochoerus aethiopicus appears to be restricted to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, with no records west of the Eastern Rift Valley (ERV). The estimated current geographic distribution of P. aethiopicus is 1,109,000 km2. Phacochoerus africanus occurs in all five countries of the HoA and has an estimated current geographic distribution in the HoA of 1,213,000 km2. Phacochoerus africanus appears to be the more adaptable species although P. aethiopicus is able to live where mean annual rainfall is more variable. Although both species are allopatric over vast regions, they are sympatric in central east Ethiopia, north Somalia, central Kenya, north coast of Kenya, and southeast Kenya. Both suids remain locally common, their populations are, however, in decline due to the negative impacts on the environment by the rapidly growing human populations in all five countries.

https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2022-0048

Yvonne A. de Jong & Thomas M. Butynski
Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program, wildsolutions.nl

Common warthog Phacochoerus africanus are the smallest of the diurnal bare-skinned large mammals (adult males ≈ 80 kg; adult females ≈ 56 kg). Partly due to their sparse cover of hair and low body fat, they are intolerant of cold and hot air temperatures. They avoid the warmer periods of the day by resting in the shade, mud-wallowing (Figure 1), or retreating to a burrow (Cumming, 2013; Butynski & De Jong, 2018). Although typically diurnal, the odd record exists of common warthog being active at night.

Go to: https://www.wildsolutions.nl/nocturnal_warthog/ to read the full blog

Thomas M. Butynski & Yvonne A. de Jong, Suiform Soundings 20(1), 33-44.

Abstract: Desert warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus delamerei and common warthog Phacochoerus africanus are widespread and locally common in the Horn of Africa and Kenya, east of the Eastern Rift Valley. It is of particular interest that these two taxa, the only two extant species in the genus Phacochoerus, occur in sympatry in some regions. Within Kenya, sympatry is known for the northern coast, Tsavo East National Park, Tsavo West National Park, and Meru National Park. This article presents information on a fifth region of sympatry, Laikipia County, central Kenya. Individuals that we judged to be atypical for either desert warthog or common warthog were encountered in Laikipia. New information on the distribution, abundance, population structure, ecology, and behaviour of desert warthog in Laikipia is presented. Laikipia offers considerable opportunity for comparative research on the morphology, molecular biology, ecology, and behaviour of desert warthog and common warthog.

Read the full article at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355202593_Sympatry_between_desert_warthog_Phacochoerus_aethiopicus_and_common_warthog_Phacochoerus_africanus_in_Kenya_with_particular_reference_to_Laikipia_County

The charismatic, semi-terrestrial, southern patas monkey Erythrocebus baumstarki, is probably now restricted in the protected savannas of the western Serengeti (central northern Tanzania). It seems that, at present, fewer than 200 individuals occupy about 15% (9,700 km²) of their early 20th century geographic range. This large, slender, long-limbed, primate once occurred in the acacia woodlands near Mount Kilimanjaro and in southern Kenya but was extirpated from these areas prior to 2016 due to factors related to the rapidly increasing human population. The main threats are the degradation, loss, and fragmentation of natural habitats, and competition with people and livestock for habitat and water. Poaching and domestic dogs are also threats. As a result, this shy and secretive monkey is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [Website: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/92252436/92252442].

In the absence of focused conservation actions, it appears that the southern patas monkey will be among the first three primate extinctions recorded for continental Africa during the past century. Miss Waldron’s red colobus Piliocolobus waldroni of southern Ghana and southeastern Côte d’Ivoire was last reliably recorded in 1978, while the Mount Kenya potto Perodicticus ibeanus stockleyi is only known from a museum specimen collected in 1938.

In our recent publication (De Jong, Y.A. & Butynski, T.M. 2021. Is the Southern Patas Monkey Erythrocebus baumstarki Africa’s Next Primate Extinction? Reassessing Taxonomy, Distribution, Abundance, and Conservation. American Journal of Primatology, e23316) we assess the historic geographic distribution of the southern patas monkey and give evidence for its former occurrence in Kenya. We present estimates of the current distribution and population size, review the threats, and express our concern for its continued survival. We conclude with suggestions for conservation actions, including research. The objective of this article is to bring attention to the plight of this poorly known species, thereby promoting its long-term conservation.

Yvonne A. de Jong and Thomas M. Butynski
Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program
Nanyuki, Kenya