Conservation news
Uplisting a threatened small mammal: the Nimba The main opportunity for conserving the Nimba otter- otter-shrew of West Africa shrew is the effective management of two protected areas within its range. The , ha Mount Nimba Strict The Nimba otter-shrew Micropotamogale lamottei is one Nature Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site in of three semi-aquatic mammal species in the family Pota- Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire that is also home to Critically mogalidae (Supercohort Afrotheria, Order Afrosoricida). Endangered species such as the Mount Nimba viviparous Closely related to the tenrecs of Madagascar, otter-shrews toad Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis, Lamotte’s roundleaf resemble small otters. They occur in rivers, streams and bat Hipposideros lamottei and western chimpanzee Pan pools in the forests of central and western Africa where troglodytes verus. The Reserve is threatened by a mining they feed on aquatic invertebrates, fish and amphibians. enclave, as well as by poaching and fires (Monadjem et al., However, as with most small mammal species, their ecology, , Acta Chiropterologica, , –), and is currently a abundance and distribution are poorly known. World Heritage Site in Danger. Otter-shrews have also The Nimba otter-shrew is endemic to a small part of the recently been recorded in East Nimba Nature Reserve on Upper Guinea Region of West Africa: the Nimba mountains the eastern side of the mountain (Monadjem et al., , ’ of Liberia, Guinea and Côte d Ivoire and the Putu mountains op. cit.), which is currently co-managed by ArcelorMittal of Liberia. Both areas are exploited for mining and agricul- Liberia to offset biodiversity losses from its mining activities. ture, yet until recently, little information was available on the Only improved management of these two protected areas, distribution of the otter-shrew, hindering assessment of its and further investigation of protection options in the Putu conservation status. The last IUCN Red List of Threatened range, will ensure the survival of the Nimba otter-shrew, but Species categorized the otter-shrew as Near Threatened but the lack of interest from international conservation agencies in urgent need of further study (Stephenson, , The IUCN in this species, and this region, is of concern. Red List of Threatened Species : e.T A ). Despite these recent studies, the full impact of mining, Recent studies focusing on the Putu range in east-central habitat conversion and bycatch on the ottershrew remains Liberia (Decher et al., , Journal of Contemporary Water unclear and requires investigation. Further research on the – Research & Education, , ) and the Nimba range in species’ distribution, status, habitat requirements, and northern Liberia (Monadjem et al., , Mammalia, threats would help determine which conservation measures https://doi.org/ . /mammalia- - ) have shed could be appropriate in addition to enhancing protected light on this elusive small mammal and confirmed that it area management. In the meantime, we hope the conserva- is under threat. Otter-shrews were found to be confined to tion community finally pays some attention to this unique freshwater habitats in severely fragmented mid-elevation Afrotherian and its Mount Nimba home, before it is too late. forest, where they are largely solitary, occurring at low popu- lation densities. The core population at Mount Nimba is P.J. STEPHENSON Ecosystem Management Group, Department under severe threat from iron ore mining in both Liberia of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Zürich, and Guinea, as is its habitat in the satellite population in Switzerland, and IUCN Species Survival Commission the Putu range. The Nimba study provides evidence that Afrotheria Specialist Group. E-mail [email protected] mining has a direct impact on otter-shrews, probably as a re- sult of an increase in siltation of their aquatic habitat. Other ARA MONADJEM Department of Biological Sciences, University threats to the species include conversion of forests into rice of Swaziland, Kwaluseni, Swaziland, Mammal Research paddies and incidental capture and drowning in fish traps. Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, These new studies suggest the extent of occurrence University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, and IUCN (EOO) of the Nimba otter-shrew is , km (Monadjem Species Survival Commission Afrotheria Specialist Group et al., , op. cit.). As the EOO is , , km and thought to be decreasing, and as the extent and quality of JAN DECHER Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander the habitat are deteriorating as a result of mining and agri- Koenig, Bonn, Germany, and IUCN Species Survival cultural activity, the species has been uplisted from Near Commission Afrotheria Specialist Group Threatened to Vulnerable based on criteria Bab(i,ii,iii) (Stephenson et al., in press, Micropotamogale lamottei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ). This demon- What Works in Conservation 2018 strates the value and importance of using field data to revise conservation status assessments, especially for overlooked A new book, free to download, brings together evidence to small mammal species. help conservationists choose the most effective strategies to
Oryx, 2018, 52(4), 609–616 © 2018 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605318000765 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.22, on 24 Sep 2021 at 18:47:36, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318000753