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COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND COMPUTITIONAL SCIENCE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY FEEDING ECOLOGY AND THREATS TO WILD AFRICAN CIVET (Civettictis civetta) IN CHORA WOREDA, BUNO BEDELE ZONE, OROMIA REGIONAL STATE, SOUTH WESTERN ETHIOPIA BONTU TOLESA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE (M.Sc.) DEGREE IN BIOLOGY ADVISOR: HABTE JEBESSA DEBELLA (PhD) SEPTEMBER, 2018, ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA Feeding ecology and threats to wild African civet (Civettictis civetta) in Chora Woreda, Buno Bedele Zone, Oromia Regional State, Southwestern Ethiopia Bontu Tolesa A Thesis Submitted to Department of Biology School of Graduate studies Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Biology September, 2018, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Addis Ababa University School of Graduate studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Bontu Tolesa Emire entitled: Conservation status and threats to wild African civet Chora Woreda, Buno Bedele Zone, Oromia regional state Southwestern Ethiopia and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of science in biology complies with regulation of the university and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the examining committee: Examiner__________________________ Signature ______Date___________ Examiner__________________________Signature________Date__________ Advisor____________________________ Signature ______Date__________ DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my late father Tolesa Emire from whom I gained a lot of experiences in my life. Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to my advisor Dr, Habte Jebessa Debella for his fruitful discussions, encouragement, constructive criticism, and consistent guidance starting from the title section up to the final version of this thesis. I would also like to thank the Oromia Region Educational Bureau for providing my research fund. My gratitude also goes to Chora Woreda Agricultural and Natural Resource Office and Abdala-Darimu Civet Farmer Association for their unreserved cooperation in providing relevant information necessary for the thesis. I am very grateful to my late father Ato Tolesa Emire and my mother W/ro Mestawot Ayana for nursing me with affection and love and for their dedicated partnership in the success of my life. I am also thankful to my brothers Jiregna, Bikila, Diriba and my sister Bilise Tolesa for their invaluable assistance to ward my study. I would like to thank all female M.Sc students of the Biology Department (my classmates), especially, my colleague Ageritu Ayalew for her valuable encouragement and information sharing. v List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AAU Addis Ababa University BBFWE Buno Bedele Forest and Wildlife Enterprise CWANRO Chora Woreda Agricultural and Natural Resource Office EWCA Ethiopia Wildlife conservation Authority EWCO Ethiopia Wildlife conservation organization Authority FAO Food and Agricultural Organization Fig Figure Ha Hectare HH House Holds NGOs Non-governmental organization OFWE Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise WSPA World Society for the Protection of Animals vi Table of contents Contents Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.......................................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................................ vi Table of contents ........................................................................................................................................ vii List of figure ................................................................................................................................................ ix List of TableContent...................................................................................................................................... x List of appendix ........................................................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................... xii 1.1 Background of the study .....................................................................................................................1 1.2 Statement of the Problem....................................................................................................................3 1.3.1 General Objective ........................................................................................................................4 1.3.2. Specific Objectives .....................................................................................................................4 1.4. Basic Research Questions ..................................................................................................................4 1.5 Significance of the Study ....................................................................................................................5 1.6. Scope of the Study .............................................................................................................................5 1.7. Organization of the study...................................................................................................................5 2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE...................................................................................................7 2.1. Taxonomy of African civet................................................................................................................7 2.3. Civetry Sites and its Defecation.......................................................................................................10 2.4. The life of African Civet..................................................................................................................11 2.5. Threats to African Civets.................................................................................................................12 2.6 .Population Ecology of African civet................................................................................................14 2.7. Historical Background of Civiculture in Ethiopia ...............................................................................14 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS............................................................................................................16 3.1. Description of the Study Area..........................................................................................................16 3.2. Research Design...............................................................................................................................18 3.3. Sources of Data................................................................................................................................19 3.4. Sample and Sampling Techniques ...................................................................................................19 3.5. Sample collecting procedure............................................................................................................20 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................24 4.1 Results...............................................................................................................................................24 4.1.1. Feeding ecology of African civet in the wild............................................................................24 4.1.2. Population status of African civet.............................................................................................27 vii 4.1.4. The major threats of African civet and Conservation ...............................................................30 4.1.5 Efforts of Rural Households and Stake holds on African civet Conservation ...........................35 4.2. DISCUSSION..................................................................................................................................37 5. CONCLUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION....................................................................................43 5.1 CONCLUSSION...............................................................................................................................43 5.2 RECOMMENDATION ....................................................................................................................44 6. References...............................................................................................................................................45 7. APPENDEX............................................................................................................................................53 viii List of table Table 2. Sample and sampling techniques of house hold heads..................................................................20 Table 3. List of total food items identified from scats of African civet in current study area ............. Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 4. List of food items identified from scats of civets at each of study site...........Error! Bookmark not defined. Table 5. Number of civets surveyed in each site ..........................................