Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist

Although Togo is a relatively small country in West Africa, it is characterized by a wide variation of vegetation zones ranging from moist forests to arid savannahs, including the Dahomey Gap. There has been no comprehensive documentation of the native mammal fauna of Togo since 1893. Our review of the extant and extirpated mammals of Togo includes 178 species, with Chiroptera (52 species) and Rodentia (47 species) being the most speciose groups. This number does not include additional species recorded along the borders of Togo, and whose presence inside the country is not verified. Seven species of mammals are presumably extinct in the country, but we confirmed that two species of large ungulates, reputed to be extinct, survive in remote forest habitats. Ecological Zone IV, sustaining the moist forest areas, and Ecological Zone I, inclusive of all the relatively undisturbed dry savannahs of the extreme North of the country, are the most important regions for mammal diversity and conservation.