Somaliland Biodiversity Foundaon March 2020, Newsleer 7 IN THIS ISSUE Environmental Overview of the Gal4iddigaale 5alk ......................... 1 Kori Bustard .................................... 1 An Bpdate on Apocynaceae ........... 2 alxiddigaale Walk Biodiversity of Laas Geel ................ C Ahmed Ibrahim Awale Denomous 0nakes in 0omaliland ... E Birds of Bniversity of .argeisa ....... 6 On 11 February 2020, I was lucky to be a part of a team of nine nature enthusiasts, Cheetah ConservaGon Fund ........... 8 including internationals), who ventured on long 78 km) walk that started at the famed Laas Geel Rock Art site and ended in Bulahar, a town on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. ,he trip was organi-ed by .argeisa Cultural Center .CC). ,he three day trek passed through four of 0omaliland1s ecological -ones2 Ogo, Golis Mountains, Featured Species the sub3coastal, and the coastal Guban) zones. As we walked, differences in the Kori Bustard composition of the floral and faunal communities within each -one became easy to Ardeos kori sense and see. One of the most spectacular features we saw during the walk was the Gal4iddigaale perma3 nent pool on the bank of one of the main trib3 utaries of the 5aaheen seasonal watercourse. Its name refers to its dark, blue and deep permanent water which reflect the stars during moonless nights. At Gal4iddigaale, Kori Bustard Eng.); Jugley 0om.) three seasonal water3 courses which drain the Kori Bustards are the largest ?ying Golis Range, from Gacan Libaa4 Mountain in the southeast, and Dhaboola7 west of birds in Africa. Adult males weigh 83 .argeisa meet to form the 5aaheen watercourse. During the rainy season, these 20 kg, the average weight being watercourses carry billions of liters of water to the sea. 5onderful tales are told around 11 kg. Although they can ?y, about the pool, including that it has a subterranean connection into the sea Kori Bustards prefer to run, ?apping appro4imately 88 km away to the north). ,here is no evidence that this is the case. their wings as they do so. ,he 5e were fortunate. 2019 was e4ceptionally wet. It saw a record of eight cyclones, 0omali name, “ Jugley A, refers to the culminating in ,ropical 0torm Pawan in the first part of December. ,his was in sound generated by their wings. marked contrast to the many preceding years which had been marked by drought, Kori Bustards used to be a fairly sometimes severe drought. ,he impact on the vegetation was evident throughout Connued on page 7 Connued on page 7 1 Apocynaceae in Somaliland Peter Bruyns In October 2019, Pavel Hanáček spent by botanists there than in Puntland and 0outhern (Mendel University of Brno, 0omalia. Despite this, they seem to have found most of Czechia) and I (University of Cape the Apocynaceae species present, but many were known Town) spent two weeks in Somali- from only a few sites. ,hus, the main aim of our work was land investigating species of to develop better knowledge of species distributions in Apocynaceae . We were accompanied 0omaliland. ,wo e4amples of species for which we by Faisal Jama (University of Hargeisa’s obtained better knowledge are Ceropegia watsonii and C. Biodiversity Museum). Our Journey malum. began in Hargeisa and took us first to Berbera, then to Las Dawo, Hudiso and Prior to our visit, Ceropegia Echidnopiis ) watsonii was known in 0omaliland only from a collecGon made between .argeisa Sheikh. We spent some days exploring LeL to right2 Peter Bruyns, around Sheikh and then went on to Faisal Jama, Pavel .anHIek . and Borama. On our study Pavel found it near 0u7sada. ,his Ga’an Libah and Burao. From Burao e4tends its known distribuGon many kilometres to the north3 we travelled north-east to Suqsada and Gebo Gabo and also east, a most une4pected southwards to Ceeg. ALer this we returned via Odweine. result. ,he Apocynaceae , with around 90 species, is about the si4th Ceropegia Echidnopisis ) largest plant family in 0omaliland. Because of the dry malum was known to be widely distributed in the climate, about half the species are stem3succulents. Most .orn of Africa, but there belong to the group traditionally known as stapeliads, all of were only two known sites which are now placed in the genus Ceropegia. A few stem In 0omaliland. one near succulents , such as Adenium obesum and Cynanchum viminale , Mayt and another near are not stapeliads. .udiso. It is, however, an ,he rainfall before our visit e4tremely inconspicuous plant, usually growing beneath other shrubs with its prostrate had been average but not branches partly buried in the soil. 5hen dry, the branches e4cepGonal. Nevertheless, become dark, almost black, resembling dried twigs, and are virtually everywhere we oLen covered by sand. In moist condiGons, however, the went was green, the branches swell up, throw oM the aached sand grains and succulents were plump, and become green, making them more visible. ,he rains that many geophytes were in full preceded our trip revealed that it is a common species in growth. ,his last meant 0omaliland. 5e saw it at nearly every stop north of the escarp3 Faisal was able to collect ment and it is even fairly plenGful in the hills around .argeisa. several for the .erbarium1s succulent garden which we would otherwise not have seen. Among these were many of the ephemeral, geophyGc species such as Raphionacme borenensis and several small members of Cynanchum . 0tapeliads were evident in many places where we stopped but were most plentiful and most diverse on the escarp3 ment. 0ome species, such as Ceropegia virchowii and C. ahmarensis, were restricted to the top of the escarpment whereas others grew at many diMerent elevaGons on it. ,here were fewer species on the rocky areas south of the escarpment and hardly any in the relaGvely uniform sandy ?ats further south. Very few of the stapeliads we saw were in ?ower. Most occurred only as scaered individuals but, where gra-ing pressures were high, the populaGons were larger. ,he flora of 0omalia was investigated before 0omaliland Image of team members by Jamal Abdikarim, of plants by Peter declared its independence from 0omalia, so less time was Bruyns. 2 Biodiversity of the Laas Geel Rock Art Reserve Mary E. Barkworth as a result of overbrowsing. We are posting a checklist of species from the area to https://OpenHerbarium.org (see “Flora ProJects/Somaliland”). So far, the list includes 88 species. SBF’s proposal con- cerned only plants but we have asked others to help us de- velop similar infor- mation for other groups. Both Osman Gedow and Tomáš Mazuch immediately agreed to do so. Os- man, who provided Laas Geel is the site of remarkably well3preserved petro3 many records for Ashe and Miskell’s (2013) Birds of So- glyphs. 0omaliland1s Ministry of ,rade, Industry and ,our3 malia , visited the site in November 2019 and promised to ism is working to their ensure preservation while promot3 revisit the site on future visits to Somaliland. ing the site1s tourism potential. One of its first actions was to fence off and guard the area immediately around the Tomáš immediately sent a list of the amphibians, repGles, petroglyphs, thereby protecting it from large animals scorpions, and mammals he saw at the site between 2010 including humans). In doing so, it created an opportunity and 2017. Both checklists can be found at OpenRooMuse3 for studying the area1s biodiversity and its response to um.org. Click “Flora proJectsP0omalilandA to see them. reduced gra-ing pressure. Ses “?oraA will be changed to “FaunaA soon. ,o see a combined list of animals, select “Laas Geel FaunaTall In August 2019, the Somaliland Biodiversity Foundation ta4aA. submitted a proposal for monitoring, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Rural Development, the ,hese three checklists are in a very early stage of develop3 plant diversity both inside and outside the fenced area. ment. Future site visits will undoubtedly lead to additions. Specifically, the Foundation proposed developing a docu- One point to emphasi-e2 the checklists themselves are not mented list of all the plant species in the fenced area, set- our primary goal, but they are the critical first step to3 ting up permanent monitoring stations both inside and wards that goal, development of resources about 0oma3 outside the reserve, and preparing illustrated checklists, liland1s biodiversity that can be used in its schools and posters, and booklets about the area’s flora. colleges, by its ministries, and the general public. Field study in late 2019, showed several plants that looked, Judging by their relatively long young shoots, to be benefitting from the protection the fence provides from browsing animals. In addition, grasses seemed to be more much more conspicuous within the fenced area than outside. Ahmed Awale was particularly struck by the presence of Andropogon kelleri (‘ Duur ’), which used to be more abundant in Somaliland. It has many traditional us- es, for example, the weaving of grass mats that go into the Somali hout ( Aqal ), and shading water cisterns to re- duce evaporation. In addition, its stems were used as pens when using wooden tablets for Quranic (Koran) ed- ucation. Another noteworthy finding was a healthy plant of May- Images from Mary Barkworth site), Ahmed Ibrahim Awale tenus undata (’ Ulayar ’). This species is also becoming rare Maytenus ), Faisal Jama Agama ). C Venomous Snakes in Somaliland Tomáš Mazuch Denomous snakes are members of the 0uborder Serpentes. Burrowing asps. Despite ,hey all produce venom, which they use for killing prey, for this, they do not cause defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. ,he many fatal bites in venom is typically delivered by inJection using hollow or 0omaliland because they grooved fangs, although some venomous snakes lack well3 are nocturnal, secretive, developed fangs.