ETHIOPIAN WOLVES► Distribution and Status ► Wolf Distribution Update

Endangered wolves persist in remote enclaves of the Ethiopian highlands
Prepared by Jorgelina Marino, June 2004

The fertile highlands of Ethiopia sustain one of the most densely populated agricultural areas in Africa. After several decades of rapid population growth, the mountains of Ethiopian resemble Afroalpine `islands` surrounded by barley fields and eroded slopes. These remote enclaves are sanctuaries for a unique diversity of high altitude plants and animals that evolved in the geographic isolation of this massif.

Ethiopian wolves specialized to feed on the abundant rodents of high altitude grasslands, and shares with other Afroalpine specialists a restricted geographic distribution. Until recently, little was known about the status and distribution of wolves in areas outside the southern Bale Mountains (see map). Had wolves survived current rates of habitat loss, or had vulnerable, increasingly isolated populations become extinct from most of the northern highlands? At one time, the latter option seemed the most likely. However, a recent comprehensive survey has revealed that wolves still inhabit almost every Afroalpine enclave of these populated highlands.

Map of Afroalpine ranges and remaining wolf habitat in Ethiopia: Climatic zones are showed in a gradient of gray: the darker is the Afroalpine zone (> 3,200m) that broadly corresponds with the distribution of wolf suitable habitat. The more detailed maps, however, show the current distribution of suitable habitat, above the current limit of high altitude subsistence agriculture

This surprising discovery was the result of extensive surveys conducted by the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme to all the highest mountains in Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000 (more than 20 study sites in six different political regions). Our main objectives were to assess the current wolf distribution and to evaluate the quality and extent of remaining Afroalpine habitats.

In most sites we confirmed the presence of wolves by opportunistic sightings; in others indirect evidence was obtained in the form of wolf droppings and dig outs -as they search for rodents- and reports from local highlanders. We identified seven wolf populations, including two previously unknown (in North and South Wollo regions), across the highlands of Ethiopia. These were separated by more than 20km and therefore assumed to be beyond wolf dispersal distance -some were internally fragmented with habitat patches close enough for individuals to disperse between areas.

Our calculations from detailed field maps revealed that only 40% of the range historically available to wolves remains today, constrained by the expanding boundary of subsistence agriculture. The lower limit of wolf ranges was consistently high towards the north, roughly following an human density cline. In the highly populated highlands north of the Rift Valley, less than 30% of potential habitats remain in any given region. In particular, the wolf populations inhabiting mountain ranges below 3,700m -the upper limit for sustainable agriculture- are particularly vulnerable to further habitat loss. No more than five years ago, wolves disappeared from two small habitat patches, Gosh Meda in the Shoa Highlands and Guguftu in South Wollo, where not cultivated areas shrunk to around 20km².

Close contact between wolves and people in Afroalpine areas impose further threats to the already vulnerable populations. The risk of diseases transmitted by domestic dogs is an imminent threat, with rabies reportedly affecting domestic dogs and livestock in all surveyed areas. While apparently declining, direct wolf persecution was associated with livestock predation conflicts in highly populated areas.

We approximated population sizes from the extent of habitat remaining, extrapolating wolf densities from the better known Bale Mountains popualtion. Our results did not differ from the previous total estimate of around 500 wolves, but the existence of previously unconfirmed small populations significantly changed the overall species status. Bale, with the best conditions for long-term survival, is still home to the vast majority of wolves (approximately 300). Populations elsewhere may contain between 10 and probably as much as 80 wolves; all are very small and within the danger zone of an extinction vortex.

The newly realized urgency to protect wolf populations across the country persuaded the people involved with the Bale-based Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme to extend its activities to the north. A strategy to prevent the extinction of the Endangered Ethiopian wolf now considers particular management strategies for each population, broadening the possibility of long-term survival for these unique animals.

Relevant publication

Marino, J. (2003). Threatened Ethiopian wolves persist in small isolated Afroalpine enclaves. Oryx, 37(1): 62-71.