Species relative abundance
A total of 763 species with evidence of mammalian species were recorded
in the study area. The number of records varied among orders and
families. The abundant order by the number of records from the study
area was order Primates which include 480, followed by order Carnivora
including 111. The least abundant order was Tubulidentata, which
composes only nine records. The most abundant family by the number of
records was Cercopithecidae (425), whereas the least was Felidae,
comprising only three records. Based on the frequency of records,Papio Anubis (30.3%) became the most abundant in the study area,
followed by Chlorocebus aethiops (22 %). Based on IUCN Red List
categories, the vulnerable species such as Panthera pardus andPanthera Leo each contributed 0.79% and 0.39%, respectively.
The results of the present study showed that of the 763 total
observations, 38% (N = 290) was recorded in dense forest, 17.56% (N =
134) in shrubs, 20.45% (N = 156) in crop land and 23.98% (N = 183) in
grass land habitats. The number of records of mammalian species was not
varied significantly among habitats by kruskal -Wallis tests (KWχ2 =
4.37; P > 0.05). Average amount of species richness and
related quantities (frequency of records) computed by the rarefaction
curve among the four stratified habitat types and seasons is represented
by Figure 3 below. At species-specific level, Papio Anubis was
the most abundant species in forest habitat (35.9%, n = 83) and
grassland (25.97%, n = 60) followed by Chlorocebus aethiops(44.6%, n = 75) in forset and in grass land habitat (19.05 %, n = 32),
respectively. Papio Anubis (23.37%, n = 54) was also the most
abundant in crop land followed by Crocuta Crocuta (63.83%, n = 30)
while, in shrubs habitat the most abundant was Chlorocebus
aethiops (25%, n = 42) followed by Papio Anubis (14.7%, n =
34). Panthera pardus, Panthera Leo, and Lepus habissincuswere only recorded in forest and grassland habitats, respectively.
Mammalian species frequency of records among the four habitat types is
described in Figure 4 below.
The number of species records of mammals was higher in the dry season (n
= 433, 56.75%) than in the rainy season (n = 330, 43.25%). The
abundance of mammalian species was not significantly between seasons (χ2
= 12.12; DF = 18; P >0.05). Two species (Papio
Anubis and Chlorocebus aethiops ) were relatively the most
abundant in both seasons (Figure 5). These two species contributed
56.06% and 49.42% of the total records of the wet and dry season
survey, respectively. The remaining mammalian records contributed
between 0.17and 0.27% in the wet season and 0.14 and 0.37% during the
dry season survey. Frequency of records across habitat types was
significantly different (χ2 = 246.4; DF = 18; P < 0.05)
between seasons.