Abstract:
The Chimanimani Mountains of Mozambique and Zimbabwe harbour diverse and unique flora
and fauna. Because of these unique floral characteristics, this region has received considerable attention
by botanists. In contrast, the vertebrates occurring here have received little attention. The aim of this
paper was to synthesise data collected on multiple recent surveys into the first annotated checklist of the
mammals of the Mozambican side of the Chimanimani Mountains. We identified mediumsized and large
mammals by exterior appearance, mostly as captured on camera traps. We combined morphological and
molecular methods to identify small mammals, and we report on echolocation calls of some of the poorly
known bat species. In total, we recorded 69 species, including 23 species of bats (Chiroptera), 15 species
of rodents (Rodentia), 11 species of carnivores (Carnivora), nine species of ungulates (Cetartiodactyla), and
the rest comprising Primates, Eulipotyphla, Lagomorpha, Proboscidea, and Pholidota. Of these, five species
are listed as threatened, demonstrating the importance of the Chimanimani Mountains for mammalian
biodiversity conservation in South Eastern Africa.
