The design and implementation of effective conservation measures for primates, warthogs and hyraxes requires an efficient, low cost, and accessible resource for the identification of species and subspecies. Although photographs cannot replace an adequate museum collection as a resource for assessing species variation, geotagged photographs are a relatively fast, inexpensive, convenient, and unobtrusive means for detecting and assessing phenotypic variation within a species/subspecies over large areas. The use of photographs to document phenotypic characters will become increasingly important as the collection of specimens for hands-on assessments becomes ever more difficult.
To expand our ‘Baboon PhotoMap’ (more information on http://www.wildsolut…raphy/photomap/) we are looking for baboon photographs taken in southern Tanzania, northern Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi and southeast DRC.
If you happen to have baboon images from this region which you are willing to share, please send a copy to wildsolutions@gmail.com together with your full name (so that we can acknowledge you accordingly) and the coordinates or a detailed locality description of your record or post them in the ‘Primates of Eastern Africa’ Project on www.inaturalist.org.
Thank you very much for your help!
Adult male olive baboon (Papio anubis) lounging at the at Mount Elgon National Park at 2,150 m asl, western Kenya. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski.
By Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski, Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program
In mid-October (2015), good numbers of desert warthogs (Phacochoerus aethiopicus) were encountered on patches of short green grass near the Ewaso Nyiro River in Samburu National Reserve, central Kenya. The video below shows a solitary female (being ‘groomed’ by a red-billed oxpecker Buphaguserythrorhynchus), a bachelor sounder of six adult males, a sounder of two females with a young male and six piglets, and a female with piglets. Additional images of desert warthogs can be viewed at Warthog PhotoMap.
Desert warthog sounder at Samburu National Reserve, central Kenya. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski.
Adult male desert warthog at Samburu National Reserve, central Kenya. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski.
Young male desert warthog with two piglets at Samburu National Reserve, central Kenya. Photograph by Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski.
By Tom Butynski and Yvonne de Jong, Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme and Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program
Understanding the distribution, abundance, and habit requirements of a species is basic to establishing a baseline for its long-term monitoring at a particular site. To this end, the Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme recently produced a report titled ‘Distribution and abundance of some of the larger mammals of Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, central Kenya’. This report presents information for 42 of the 54 larger mammals that are known to occur on Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, as well as for two smaller mammals (unstriped ground squirrel and striped ground squirrel). Photographs are presented for 42 species, while distribution maps are presented for 25 species.
By Tom Butynski and Yvonne de Jong, Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme and Eastern Africa Primate Diversity and Conservation Program
In drafting a recent article (Primate Conservation in the Rangeland Agroecosystem of Laikipia County, Central Kenya), we became aware that information concerning the geography, environment, and biodiversity of Laikipia County, central Kenya, was (surprisingly) widely scattered, frequently difficult to locate, and sometimes incorrect. We have, therefore, produced a short document that presents some of the more important and most often-sought facts about the geography, environment, and biodiversity of Laikipia County.
