The next time you wake up to find fresh molehills dotted around your garden, you’ll probably see red, but think twice before you scream blue murder. That pesky mole may well be one of several endemic South African species that are either critically endangered (five) or highly endangered (three). Put poison down that mole hole and you may be instrumental in pushing an entire species over the brink into total extinction.
The Red Data Book of the Mammals of South Africa is a comprehensive scientific evaluation of the current status of all South Africa’s animals against which, over time, we will be able to measure the success or failure of our efforts to conserve our country’s immense biodiversity.
What is meant by biodiversity? The number and abundance of species found within a common environment, including the variety of genes, species, ecosystems, as well as the dynamic ecological processes that connect everything within that environment.
Why is biodiversity important? Because life is a living web of interrelationships: remove just one element in an ecosystem and a chain of multiple consequences will arise. For example, the extinction of a single species of mole could result in a population explosion among its preferred prey insects, which in turn could destroy human food crops.
The major threats to continued biodiversity are almost entirely caused by humans: direct exploitation of an animal for food or trade, for instance, but also loss of habitat because of land transformation through deforestation, agriculture, timber planting, or urban and industrial development. Poisoning, pollution, hunting and poaching can also have a negative impact on some mammals.
Out of the world’s 193 countries (counting Taiwan), South Africa is ranked as the third most biologically diverse country on Earth because of both its diversity of species (predominantly plants) and the number that are endemic (found nowhere else in the world).
South Africa is also one of only 12 megadiverse countries which collectively contain more than two-thirds of global diversity. Our biological wealth is the result of a wide range of habitats created by variations in climate and geology, soils and landscape, ranging from semi-desert to semi-tropical, montane to riverine, wide-open grassland to dense forests.
South Africa traditionally has a good track record in the conservation of threatened mammal species, but the ones that attract the most public attention tend to be large: rhino, cheetah, wild dogs. So it may come as a surprise to discover just how many of our most threatened mammals are rather small creatures, easy to dismiss as unworthy of our attention, but we ignore them at our own peril.
The previous South African Red Data Book on Mammals was published as long ago as 1986, although this dealt solely with terrestial mammals. Arising out of the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which South Africa ratified in 1995. In addition, South Africa promulgated its own National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act in 2003.
Both as signatory to the CBD and in terms of its own legislation, South Africa has taken it upon itself to identify and inventorise its biodiversity, as well as to develop national strategies and programmes to conserve this diversity.
The IUCN Red Lists are widely recognised as the most comprehensive, apolitical global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. One of the targets set at the UN Millenium Summit in 2000 was to reverse the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. As the host country for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the 2003 World Parks Congress, South Africa continues to play a key role in preserving a unique and irreplacable part of the world’s natural heritage.
Out of these commitments arose the need to update the 1986 Red Data Book. Many changes have taken place: to South Africa’s internal boundaries, amendments to the taxonomic classification of many species, as well as improvements in the methods and tools for effective data gathering and management.
In early 2002, nearly 90 South African mammal conservationists, biologists and taxonomists were invited to participate in the Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP), which is, in essence, a broad-based, comprehensive and scientifically sound tool developed by the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), which operates under the auspices of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission. In addition, 35 organisations participated in the CAMP process, ranging across the board from national and provincial parks authorities, research and academic institutions, museums, as well as relevant private and public sector agencies.
A unique feature of the new book is that it not only indicates the current status of our most threatened mammals but includes a conservation assessment of all the region’s terrestial and marine mammals, creating a baseline database with which to monitor future trends in biodiversity. Not enough is known about a large percentage (18%) of our mammal species to enable them to be categorised with certainty. The new Red Data Book therefore provides a vital benchmark for future assessments.
The CAMP process included four thematic working groups to consider public education and awareness; an information management and database initiative; conservation management; and research and capacity building. Among many, two of their recommendations include a review of the status of all South African mammals every five years, as well as increasing public awareness and active participation in conservation through the creation of a popular version of the Red Data Book and a national ‘Red Week”.
The datasheet on each species includes both scientific and local common names, the historical and current geographic distributions (with maps), habitat status, known and potential future threats, whether trade has an impact, and much more. Several appendices include lists of mammals endemic to South Africa; the sizes of all the country’s protected areas; summary tables; a Gap analysis; as well as contact details of all CAMP participants and contributors.
Sponsored by Vodacom, with assistance from the National Research Foundation, the Lomas Wildlife Trust and the IUCN, this study sets a new world standard for conservation assessments, as no other country has produced such a comprehensive record of all its mammalian species.
The book is available in both printed format and on CD. For more information, contact the Endangered Wildlife Trust on Tel 011 486-112 or [email protected].
Red Data Book of the Mammals of South Africa: A Conservation Assessment. Published by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, 2004
10 Most critically endangered
Seven are endemic to South Africa.
- 1. Black rhinoceros, arid ecotype
- 2. De Winton’s golden mole
- 3. Juliana’s golden mole
- 4. Ongoye red squirrel
- 5. Rendall’s serotine bat
- 6. Riverine rabbit
- 7. Rough-haired golden mole
- 8. Short-eared trident bat
- 9. Van Zyl’s golden mole
- 10. Visagie’s golden mole
Threat categories: IUCN Red List criteria
- Critically endangered: facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild
- Endangered: facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild
- Vulnerable: facing a high risk of extinction in the wild
- Near threatened: close to or likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future
- Data deficient: insufficient data makes it difficult to assign these species to a category, but this does not mean they are not potentially under threat
- Least concern: widespread and/or abundant
South African mammal species by threat category
A total of 295 South African mammal species and subspecies were evaluated. Of these, 52 (17,6%) were assigned to threat categories.
- Critically endangered — 10 (3,4%)
- Endangered — 18 (6,1%)
- Vulnerable — 29 (9,8%)
- Near threatened — 38 (12,8%)
- Data deficient — 53 (12,8%)
- Least concern — 147 (49,8%)
SA Share of world populations
- Mammals 5,8%
- Birds 8%
- Reptiles 4,6%
- Marine fish 16%
- Insects 5,5%
18 Endangered mammals
Of these, 33% are endemic to South Africa.
- 1. African wild dog
- 2. Antarctic ‘true” blue whale
- 3. Cape mole-rat
- 4. Damara woolly bat
- 5. Four-toed elephant-shrew
- 6. Gunning’s golden mole
- 7. Hartmann’s mountain zebra
- 8. Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphin
- 9. Marley’s golden mole
- 10. Oribi
- 11. Robust golden mole
- 12. Samango monkey
- 13. Sclater’s forest shrew
- 14. Southern elephant seal
- 15. Swinny’s horseshoe bat
- 16. Tonga red bush squirrel
- 17. Tsessebe
- 18. White-tailed rat