African Ark

Ara Monadjem

Description

African Ark tells the story of how Africa’s mammals have helped shape the continent’s landscapes over time to support an amazing diversity of life.

Africa is home to an amazing array of animals, including the world’s most diverse assortment of large mammals. These include the world’s largest terrestrial mammal, the African elephant, alongside a host of hooved mammals such as hippopotamuses, giraffes, rhinoceroses, and zebras. African Ark: Mammals, Landscape and the Ecology of a Continent tells the story of where these mammals have come from and how they have interacted to create the richly varied landscape that makes up Africa as we know it today. It also highlights small mammals, such as rodents and bats, which are often overlooked by both naturalists and zoologists in favour of their larger cousins.

African Ark explains the processes through which species and population groups are formed and how these fluctuate over time. It explores the impact of megafauna on the environment and the important roles they play in shaping the landscape. In this way, mammals such as elephants and rhinoceros support countless plant communities and the habitats of many smaller animals. The book brings in a human perspective as well as a conservation angle in its assessment of the interaction of African mammals with the people who live alongside them.

African Ark is at once scientifically rigorous and an engaging read for anyone dedicated to the understanding of Africa and its wildlife.

List of plates

List of tables and figures

Acknowledgements

Foreword by Dr Duncan MacFadyen

Prologue: Mammals and Landscapes – the Evolution of a Continent

Chapter 1 A Continent of Plenty

Chapter 2 The Species Conundrum

Chapter 3 The History of Africa’s Mammals

Chapter 4 Islands as Species Factories

Chapter 5 Evolution on the African Mainland

Chapter 6 Giant Mammals Shaping the Landscape

Chapter 7 A Place for Every Species

Chapter 8 Fluctuating Populations

Chapter 9 The Human Factor

Chapter 10 The Sinking Ark?

Glossary

References

Recommended Reading

Index

Sujets

• Habitats
• Ecosystems
• Mammals
• Sciences et techniques
• África
• Human-wildlife conflict
• Fauna of Africa
• Population ecology
• Megafauna
• General officer
• Wildlife
• Biogeography
• Predation
• Speciation
• Mammal
• Evolution
• Wild Life
• Animals
• General
• Big Five
• Africa
• Conservation
• Nature

Informations

• Publié par: WITS University Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776147830
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

AFRICAN ARK
Mammals, landscape and the ecology of a continent
Ara Monadjem
with Mike Unwin
Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Copyright Ara Monadjem 2023
Published edition Wits University Press 2023
Images and figures Copyright holders
All maps and tables by Ara Monadjem unless otherwise indicated
First published 2023
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/12023027809
978-1-77614-780-9 (Paperback)
978-1-77614-781-6 (Hardback)
978-1-77614-782-3 (Web PDF)
978-1-77614-783-0 (EPUB)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
All images remain the property of the copyright holders. The publishers gratefully acknowledge the publishers, institutions and individuals referenced in captions for the use of images. Every effort has been made to locate the original copyright holders of the images reproduced here; please contact Wits University Press in case of any omissions or errors.
This publication is peer reviewed following international best practice standards for academic and scholarly books.
Support from the BRO Trust and Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation.

Project manager: Elaine Williams
Copyeditor: Karen Press
Proofreader: Alison Lockhart
Indexer: Marlene Burger
Cover design: Ayanda Phasha
Typeset in 10.5 point Minion Pro
I dedicate this book to Themb'alilahlwa Mahlaba, professor, close friend and colleague, who has taught me more than he realises or than I am willing to acknowledge publicly.
CONTENTS
LIST OF PLATE PHOTOGRAPHS
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
FOREWORD

PROLOGUE Mammals and Landscapes - the Evolution of a Continent
CHAPTER 1 A Continent of Plenty
CHAPTER 2 The Species Conundrum
CHAPTER 3 The History of Africa's Mammals
CHAPTER 4 Islands as Species Factories
CHAPTER 5 Evolution on the African Mainland
CHAPTER 6 Giant Mammals Shaping the Landscape
CHAPTER 7 A Place for Every Species
CHAPTER 8 Fluctuating Populations
CHAPTER 9 The Human Factor
CHAPTER 10 The Sinking Ark?

GLOSSARY
NOTES
REFERENCES
RECOMMENDED READING
INDEX
LIST OF PLATE PHOTOGRAPHS 1 A collage of African bats. From top left, clockwise: Hypsignatus monstrosus ; Rhinolophus hillorum ; Macronycteris vittatus ; Taphozous mauritianus ; Mops leonis ; Nycteris arge ; Miniopterus nimbae ; Scotophilus nux . Photographs by Ara Monadjem. 2 A brush-furred rat ( Lophuromys sikapusi ), a beautiful and abundant rodent of the Upper Guinea rainforest zone of west Africa. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 3 An arboreal tree rat ( Thallomys paedulcus ) climbing a bush at Satara Rest Camp in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Photograph by Mike Unwin. 4 A bush squirrel ( Paraxerus cepapi ) in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 5 A tiny 8-gram shrew ( Myosorex meesteri ) captured in the Chimanimani Mountains, Mozambique. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 6 The highly localised and threatened Nimba otter-shrew ( Potamogale lamottei ), photographed beside a small stream in the East Nimba Nature Reserve, Liberia. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 7 A yellow-spotted rock hyrax ( Heterohyrax brucei ) in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Photograph by Mike Unwin. 8 A dwarf mongoose ( Helogale parvula ) stretching on a fallen trunk in the Kruger National Park. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 9 A herd of savanna elephants ( Loxodonta africana ) in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 10 A small herd of wildebeest ( Connochaetus taurinus ) in the Kruger National Park, with a calf standing next to its protective mother. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 11 A large herd of zebra ( Equus burchelli ) and wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus ) in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, in 2009. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 12 Zebra ( Equus burchelli ) and wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus ) in Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. Photograph by Mike Unwin. 13 A white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum ) in the Kruger National Park, its horn removed by game rangers in order to stem the tide of poaching. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. 14 Common chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Photograph by Mike Unwin. 15 A cheetah ( Acinonyx jubatus ) in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana. Photograph by Mike Unwin. 16 A spotted hyena ( Crocuta crocuta ) waiting below a tree in which a leopard (not visible) is feeding on an impala carcass. Photograph by Ara Monadjem.
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES FIGURE 1.1 Map of Africa and associated islands. FIGURE 1.2 The Southern African vlei rat ( Otomys auratus ). Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 1.3 Trees pushed over by elephants in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 1.4 Kristine Bohmann (left) and Christina Noer (right) testing the telemetry equipment used to track molossid bats in the Simunye region of Eswatini. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 1.5 An African white-backed vulture ( Gyps africanus ) in flight in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 1.6 Map showing major African ecosystems based on the Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World (Olson et al. 2001). FIGURE 1.7 Ecosystems discussed in this book. (a) Savanna (Serengeti National Park, Tanzania), (b) forest (Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda), (c) desert (Namib Desert, Namibia) and (d) mountains (Malolotja Nature Reserve, Eswatini). Photographs by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 1.8 Ecosystems discussed in this book. (a) Aquatic (Zambezi River, Zimbabwe), (b) marine (humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae , a regular sight off Africa's Indian Ocean coast), and (c) fynbos (Blue Hill Nature Reserve, South Africa) (c). Photographs by Mike Unwin (aquatic, marine) and Ara Monadjem (fynbos). FIGURE 2.1 Mountain gorillas ( Gorilla beringei beringei ). Photograph by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 2.2 A black spitting cobra ( Naja nigricincta woodi ). Photograph by Andrew A. Turner. FIGURE 2.3 The double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Graphic created by Sandile Motsa. FIGURE 2.4 A Rüppell's horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus fumigatus ) from Mozambique. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 2.5 The rough moss frog ( Arthroleptella rugosa ). Photograph by Andrew A. Turner. FIGURE 3.1 A Deinotherium . Drawing by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 3.2 A Lystrosaurus . Drawing by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 3.3 An Egyptian free-tailed bat ( Tadarida aegyptiaca ). Photograph by Lindy Lumsden. FIGURE 3.4 Map of plate tectonics showing the outline of continents over the past several hundred million years (from Pangaea to the present). Drawing by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 3.5 A yellow-spotted hyrax ( Heterohyrax brucei ). Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 3.6 Oribi ( Ourebia ourebi ) in Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Photograph by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 4.1 Map of the western Indian Ocean islands mentioned in this chapter. FIGURE 4.2 Map of the islands of the Gulf of Guinea and Mount Cameroon. FIGURE 4.3 A fossa ( Cryptoprocta ferox ), an example of a euplerid carnivore, the whole family being endemic to Madagascar. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 4.4 A giant jumping rat ( Hypogeomys antimena ) at Kirindy Mitea National Park, western Madagascar. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 4.5 Lemurs: (a) An indri ( Indri indri ) at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and (b) a Verreaux's sifaka ( Propithecus verreauxii ) at Kirindy Mitea National Park. Photographs by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 4.6 Steve Goodman (second left) regaling students on a Tropical Biology Association field course at Kirindy Mitea National Park, western Madagascar, in 2014. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 4.7 A Midas free-tailed bat ( Mops midas ), a large molossid bat that occurs both in Madagascar and mainland Africa with little genetic differentiation between these populations. The animal was roosting in the roof of a house. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 5.1 (a) Distributions of roan ( Hippotragus equinus ) and sable ( H. niger ) antelopes based on information from the IUCN (2019). Grey shading indicates the distribution of roan and grey stippling the distribution of sable. A roan antelope (b) and sable antelope (c), both in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Photographs by Mike Unwin. FIGURE 5.2 Map of the Rift Valley and the Congo Basin. Elevation is shown from light grey (low elevation) to black (high elevation), with the larger rift valley lakes shown in white. The broken white lines show the boundaries of the rift valleys. The solid black lines show the Congo River and its northern tributary, the Oubangui River. FIGURE 5.3 A wood mouse ( Hylomyscus simus ), Sierra Leone. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 5.4 Mount Nimba, showing the grassy slopes at higher elevations. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 5.5 Map of the distribution of the two gorilla species Gorilla gorilla (stippled) and G. beringei (grey shading). The Congo and Oubangei rivers are shown as thick black lines, with the Oubangei branching to the north. Note the absence of gorillas in the forested region in between. FIGURE 5.6 A black-backed jackal ( Canis mesomelas ), Kruger National Park, South Africa. Photograph by Ara Monadjem. FIGURE 5.7 Distribution of chimpanzee species in relation to river barriers in west Africa. Note how the large rivers Sanaga, Congo and Oubangui form the borders of the species or subspecies of chimpanzees, attesting to the importance of rivers as barriers to African terrestrial mammals. Pan paniscus is the bonobo, while Pan troglodytes verus, Pan troglodytes ellioti, Pan troglodytes troglodytes and Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii are subspecies of the common chimpanzee Pan troglodytes . FIGURE 5