Human-wildlife interactions can be both positive and negative. Human-wildlife conflict, a negative interaction, has recently become a global concern. We studied conflict between humans and Hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas) in Saudi Arabia, a developing country experiencing rapid economic growth. We conducted 1,356 interviews with local residents in six affected areas to assess damage to properties and understand their perceptions about baboons. In the same interviews, we asked the questions related to the impact of mitigation measures put in place by the National Center for Wildlife, including feeding bans and appropriate waste management, on the conflict. Through an online platform established by our employer, the National Center for Wildlife, we also assessed 4,450 complaints from local people about baboon-related issues. More than half of the people surveyed (63

Understanding primate abundance and distribution provides insights into species ecology, habitat preferences, and the impact of environmental and anthropogenic pressures on primate populations. Urbanization and human expansion in Saudi Arabia have contributed to increased conflict between humans and hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas). We present population estimates and a distribution model for hamadryas baboons in Saudi Arabia in 2022, and compare our findings with those of a 1989 study to assess changes over the past three decades. We used methods similar to those used in the 1989 study, with minor modifications, conducting systematic population surveys along 15 transects across six administrative regions from March to October 2022. We used 502 baboon presence locations to model baboon distribution and identify suitable habitats, using a maximum entropy framework (MaxEnt) with ecologically relevant covariates. Using the areas derived from MaxEnt and regional density data, we estimated the total population size of hamadryas baboons to be 19,436 individuals living in semi-urban, semi-natural, and natural environments. This is a stark contrast to the estimate of 1079 individuals more than three decades ago. Baboon occurrence data indicated that since 1989, baboon distribution has expanded southward, eastward, and westward but contracted in the north. MaxEnt response curves showed baboons avoided areas with high temperatures and human disturbance. Baboons preferred altitudes between 1500–3000 m having higher precipitation and moderate vegetation cover. These insights are crucial for developing strategies to promote human–primate coexistence in Saudi Arabia.

The rodents of Saudi Arabia consist of twenty species and twelve genera within four families (Gliridae, Dipodidae, Muridae, and Hystricidae). Details on the past and present distribution of the rodents were included, along with available data on their habitat preference and biology. The eastern central part of Saudi Arabia, covering the Tuwiq mountains plateau, including the vicinity of Riyadh, hosts the highest number of rodent species. An analysis of the rodent fauna of Saudi Arabia revealed that they have four major zoogeographical affinities: Palaearctic–Oriental (one species), Afrotropical–Palaearctic (six species), Palaearctic (four species), endemic to Saudi Arabia and Yemen (three species), Afrotropical–Palaearctic–Oriental (three species), and three cosmopolitan species. According to the National Red List, the Euphrates Jerboa, Scarturus euphraticus, is listed as endangered, the Indian Crested Porcupine, Hystrix indica, as near threatened, three further species as data-deficient, while the rest are considered least concern.

The Sicilian wolf remained isolated in Sicily from the end of the Pleistocene until its extermination in the 1930s-1960s. Given its long-term isolation on the island and distinctive morphology, the genetic origin of the Sicilian wolf remains debated. We sequenced four nuclear genomes and five mitogenomes from the seven existing museum specimens to investigate the Sicilian wolf ancestry, rela-tionships with extant and extinct wolves and dogs, and diversity. Our results show that the Sicilian wolf is most closely related to the Italian wolf but carries ancestry from a lineage related to European Eneolithic and Bronze Age dogs. The average nucleotide diversity of the Sicilian wolf was half of the Italian wolf, with 37-50% of its genome contained in runs of homozygosity. Overall, we show that, by the time it went extinct, the Sicilian wolf had high inbreeding and low-genetic diversity, consistent with a population in an insular environment.

EDITORIAL article Front. Ecol. Evol., 22 June 2023Sec. Conservation and Restoration Ecology Volume 11 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1229398

This comprehensive species-specific chapter covers all aspects of the mammalian biology, including palaeontology, physiology, genetics, reproduction and development, ecology, habitat, diet, mortality, and behavior. The economic significance and management of mammals and future challenges for research and conservation are addressed as well. The chapter includes a distribution map, a photograph of the animal, and a list of key literature.

In this work, we analyzed the temporal trends of nine selected key terms used in the habitat fragmentation arena, quantifying their number (and frequency) of recurrence on Web of Science from 1960 to 2020. The most used key (focal) terms (“stepping stones”, “habitat corridors”, “landscape connectivity”), showed a progressive increase from 1981 to 2020, with “landscape connectivity” showing the highest increase in frequency in the last decade (2011–2020). Among the key secondary terms (recurring < 5%), although “corridors”, “continuity”, and “contiguity” showed a slight growth over the decades, “connectivity conservation” showed the most significant increase. This last landscape-related term recently replaced other local-scale concepts (as “stepping stones” and “corridors”) as a consequence of a change of perspective. Conversely, “ecological network planning”, used in landscape planning and less in conservation biology, showed a comparable fewer recurrence. This gap in recurrences could be due to a bias in our research approach, as Web of Science is a search engine that does not intercept grey literature (as plans and reports) drawn up by Public Agencies which rarely appears in scientific journals.

There is an increased recognition of the threat status of the African lion (Panthera leo), once a widespread top predator of open African habitats.However, our knowledge about the biology of the species is often based on a few study sites in South and East Africa, and the present subspecific taxonomy developed by the IUCN reinforces an idea of homogeneity of the species in Africa.A synthesis of available knowledge regarding the lions of Southern Somalia, formerly proposed as a distinct subspecies, Panthera leo somaliensis is presented.Particular attention is paid to the issue of manelessness in males, a phenomenon that has been studied in Tsavo (N.E.Kenya) but it is highlighted for the first time for the Southern Somalia region.Although our data cannot lead to a definitive answer about the taxonomic status of Somali lions, there is enough evidence to call for further studies and conservation efforts, also in the light of the increased evidence of genetic discontinuity in lions associated with strong ecological barriers.

Ecotourism can fuel an important source of financial income for African countries and can therefore help biodiversity policies in the continent. Translocations can be a powerful tool to spread economic benefits among countries and communities; yet, to be positive for biodiversity conservation, they require a basic knowledge of conservation units through appropriate taxonomic research. This is not always the case, as taxonomy was considered an outdated discipline for almost a century, and some plurality in taxonomic approaches is incorrectly considered as a disadvantage for conservation work. As an example, diversity of the genus Giraffa and its recent taxonomic history illustrate the importance of such knowledge for a sound conservation policy that includes translocations. We argue that a fine-grained conservation perspective that prioritizes all remaining populations along the Nile Basin is needed. Translocations are important tools for giraffe diversity conservation, but more discussion is needed, especially for moving new giraffes to regions where the autochthonous taxa/populations are no longer existent. As the current discussion about the giraffe taxonomy is too focused on the number of giraffe species, we argue that the plurality of taxonomic and conservation approaches might be beneficial, i.e., for defining the number of units requiring separate management using a (majority) consensus across different concepts (e.g., MU—management unit, ESU—evolutionary significant unit, and ECU—elemental conservation unit). The taxonomically sensitive translocation policy/strategy would be important for the preservation of current diversity, while also supporting the ecological restoration of some regions within rewilding. A summary table of the main translocation operations of African mammals that have underlying problems is included. Therefore, we call for increased attention toward the taxonomy of African mammals not only as the basis for sound conservation but also as a further opportunity to enlarge the geographic scope of ecotourism in Africa.

The crested porcupine Hystrix cristata is one of the most well-known members of the Family Hystricidae, yet very little is known regarding its geographic variability in Africa.Two alternative hypotheses exist; pre-1940s classical taxonomy supported the existence of a distinct Eastern African species, Hystrix galeata, whereas recent molecular data seem to support only a North-South separation inside one single species, with the geographic-ecological barrier represented by the Sahara desert.Our morphometric data support the recognition of Hystrix cristata senegalica Cuvier, 1822 as the sub-Saharan representative of the species with a clear morphological difference between the North African and sub-Saharan crested porcupines, which seem re-conductible mostly to size difference.Within H. c. senegalica, our analysis seems to support a weak separation between the West African and the East African samples.Owing to considerable qualitative skull differences and overlooked molecular data, the taxonomic status of H. galeata remains uncertain as well as the status of porcupines of North-East Africa (Nubia).Our results also highlight the role of North Africa (mainly the Maghreb) as a refuge for the nominal taxon.This suggests that intraspecific variability is presently overlooked and that further integrative studies and more samples are needed to adequately assess the geographic variability of sub-Saharan crested porcupines.

Historically, many local grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations have undergone substantial reductions in size or become extinct. Among these, the wolf population once living in Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, was completely eradicated by human activity in the early decades of the 20th century. To gain a better understanding of the genetic identity of the Sicilian wolf, we used techniques for the study of ancient DNA to analyze the mitochondrial (mt) variability of six specimens stored in Italian museums. We were able to amplify a diagnostic mtDNA fragment of the control region (CR) in four of the samples. Two of the samples shared the same haplotype, differing by two substitutions from the currently most diffused Italian wolf haplotype (W14) and one substitution from the only other Italian haplotype (W16). The third sample showed a previously unreported wolf-like haplotype, and the fourth a haplotype commonly found in dogs. All of the wolf haplotypes analyzed in this study belonged to the mitochondrial haplogroup that includes haplotypes detected in all the known European Pleistocene wolves and in several modern southern European populations. Unfortunately, this endemic island population, which exhibited unique mtDNA variability, was definitively lost before it was possible to understand its taxonomic uniqueness and conservational value.

Checklists represent a basic tool for conservation and management of regional faunas. However, our knowledge on species composition in a territory changes over time due to species movements across borders, extinctions, introductions, as well as to new taxonomic evidence. We aimed to provide the most updated data on native and non-native species of mammals occurring, or that used to occur until recently, on the Italian political territory and seas. The checklist only includes species whose taxonomic status was explicitly agreed in the most recent peer-reviewed literature and based on the most updated taxonomic approaches. For each species, we provided the following information: scientific and common name, global and Italian range, relevant information for management and conservation (e.g. whether it is endemic, allochthonous, or listed in international regulations and red list assessments), as well as remarks on taxonomy and distribution. This new check list of Italian mammal fauna includes nine marine and 114 terrestrial species, belonging to seven orders (Erin-aceomorpha, Soricomorpha, Chiroptera, Carnivora, Cetartiodactyla, Rodentia, Lagomorpha), and 28 families. Vespertilionidae represents the richest family (n=27 species), followed by Cricetidae (n=12) and Soricidae (n=11). The list includes 15-16 allocthonous species. Considering the relative small size of the country, Italy is confirmed as a hotspot of mammal diversity in Europe, hosting the highest species richness in relation to the total area.

Received 01.10.2017; accepted 05.11.2017; printed 30.12.2017 In this note, we report the discovery of some white quills belonging to the crested porcupine Hystrix cristata Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia Rodentia) from Sabini Mountains (Central Italy). We hypothesize the leucism of the individual.

A new endemic subspecies of gray wolf from the island of Sicily (Italy) is described. While usually considered extinct before 1940, there’s some evidence it may have survived up to 1970. This wolf was widespread throughout the island and characterized by a smaller size and a paler coloration than the Apennine wolf (Canis lupus italicus) from Central-Southern Italy.This subspecies is described from a mounted specimen (the holotype) including also a separate skull stored at the Museo di Storia Naturale ‘La Specola’, Università di Firenze, Italy. The three paratypes are: a) a mounted specimen stored at the ‘Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare di Terrasini’ in Terrasini (PA), Italy, b) a mounted specimen stored at the Museo di Zoologia ‘Pietro Doderlein’, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy, c) a mounted specimen stored at the ‘Museo Civico Baldassarre Romano’ in Termini Imerese (PA), Italy.This new subspecies is described as Canis lupus cristaldii subsp. nov . We suggest ‘Sicilian wolf’ as common name for this new taxon .

Although empirical data are necessary to describe new species, their discoveries can be guided from the survey of the so-called circumstantial evidence (that indirectly determines the existence or nonexistence of a fact). Yet this type of evidence, generally linked to traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), is often disputed by field biologists due to its uncertain nature and, on account of that, generally untapped by them. To verify this behavior and the utility of circumstantial evidence, we reviewed the existing literature about the species of apes and monkeys described or rediscovered since January 1, 1980 and submitted a poll to the authors. The results show that circumstantial evidence has proved to be useful in 40.5% of the examined cases and point to the possibility that its use could speed up the process at the heart of the discovery and description of new species, an essential step for conservation purposes.

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is a widely distributed species native to many Eurasian and American regions (Mech and Boitani 2010). Currently there are at least forty-four subspecies described (see Wozencraft 2005) several of which are however disputed. Among these is the Apennine wolf Canis lupus italicus Altobello, 1921, widespread in the Italian peninsula and morphologically and genetically distinct from all other European populations (Nowak and Federoff 2002; Montana et al. 2017). Canis lupus has been present since the Pleistocene until recent times also in Sicily (e.g. Bonfiglio et al. 2003), the largest island of the Mediterranean Sea, located south of the Italian Peninsula (about 37°45’0 N; 14°15’0 E). It was especially common in the mountains around Palermo, the woods around Mt Etna, the Peloritani, Nebrodi, Madonie and Sicani Mountains and Ficuzza Wood; the species was also present further south on the Erei and Iblei Mountains, where it has been recorded until 1928 (La Mantia and Cannella 2008). The Sicilian wolf is usually considered extinct in the early decades of the twentieth century, but there is no unanimity on the exact date. The last confirmed specimens were shot near Bellolampo (Palermo) in 1924, but there are several reports of wolves killed between 1935 and 1938 near Palermo. Furthermore, there are several sightings of wolves in Sicily between 1960 and 1970 and some of them seem convincing (Angelici et al. 2016a). The main cause of extinction of the Sicilian wolf appears to have been human persecution, due to alleged damage to livestock (eg. Minà Palumbo 1858a; 1858b; Chicoli 1870). This may have been due the extinction of the wild ungulates on which the predator fed due to an environmental crisis that starting on the island at the end of the Norman Period (ca 1198 CE) (Bresc 1983). To date, remains of Sicilian wolves are extremely scarce: no more than 7 specimens (represented by skins, stuffed individuals, skulls, etc.) are known. All of them are stored in Italy, in the ‘Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare di Terrasini’, Terrasini (Palermo), in the Museo di Zoologia ‘P. Doderlein’, Università di Palermo, in the Museo di Storia Naturale ‘La Specola‘, Università di Firenze, and in the Museo Civico ‘Baldassarre Romano’, Termini Imerese (Palermo). Moreover, there exists only a single picture of a live Sicilian wolf (Fig. 1). The complete specimens available had some peculiarities compared to the Apennine wolf. Among these the smaller size and the paler coat colour, which have already been noticed by some authors of the past (eg. Minà Palumbo 1868; Migneco 1897).

The presence of Crocidura sp. on Astipalaia Island was shown, for the first time, in the nineties of the twentieth century. After the re-examination of the already available specimens and the analysis of the more recent material, it emerged that this insular shrew population refers to Crocidura suaveolens group. The presence of this taxon is also reported for the neighboring island of Amorgos. The presence of Crocidura suaveolens group in the Mediterranean islands is a result of Pleistocene survivors as well as human introductions, a both morphometric and genetics investigation on these specimens is deserving of further insights.