Udzungwa Tales of Discovery in an East African Rainforest

About this book

Udzungwa: Tales of Discovery in an East African Rainforest is a beautiful and lavishly illustrated book containing 23 personal stories about Africa's hidden rainforests – the Udzungwa Mountains and the other Eastern Arc Mountains in East Africa, a lush area teeming with extraordinary wildlife, in a mountain range surrounded by vast, dry savannah. Thirty-five years ago, the Udzungwa Mountains were largely unknown. But since 1980, researchers and students, including many from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, have been documenting the mountains' unique fauna and flora. Their efforts have resulted in the discovery of thousands of new animal, bird and plant species, including a new species of monkey. Udzungwa: Tales of Discovery in an East African Rainforest is full of fascinating information about new discoveries, evolution, fieldwork and wildlife in these East African montane forests – a place where time appears to have stood still for millions of years.

Contents

4 Where Time Stood Still
The forests atop the Eastern Arc endure after 30 million years of climatic and geological turmoil
By Francesco Rovero and Flemming Pagh Jensen

14 The Storybook Shrew
Unearthing a distinctive and charismatic ancient species
By Francesco Rovero

16 Portfolio: The Amazing Afrotheria
By Galen Rathbun

22 And a Forest Partridge
The serendipitous discovery of a most remarkable bird
By Lars Dinesen, Louis A. Hansen and Thomas Lehmberg

30 Getting Closer to the Sanje Mangabey
An extraordinary story of living among a group of little-known forest monkeys
By Trevor Jones

40 Portfolio: In the Beginning
By Thomas Struhsaker

42 Beyond the Field
Adventure and discovery in cabinets and drawers
By William T. Stanley

50 Patterns among Birds
Rethinking the origin and evolution of African rainforest birds
By Jon Fjeldså

58 Invisible Eyes in the Forest
Recording the most elusive animals on camera
By Francesco Rovero, Daniela W. De Luca and Andrew Bowkett

66 Spiders Fall from the Sky
Catching and counting spiders in a pristine rainforest
By Nikolaj Scharff

74 A Relict Sunbird
An endemic 7-million-year-old sunbird species
By Flemming Pagh Jensen

82 Arrivals and Departures
‘Ecological elders’ and the ancestry of African mammals
By Jonathan Kingdon

98 Portfolio: From Slime to Spears
By Ben Rowson, Peter Tattersfield, Mary B. Seddon and Christine F. Ngereza

100 The Discovery of the Punky Monkey
A new African primate makes an appearance
by Trevor Jones

108 Two Thousand Plant Species Jostle for Space
The incredible plant life of the Udzungwas
By Quentin Luke

110 Portfolio: The African Violet
By Johanna Kolehmainen and Steffen Brøgger-Jensen

114 Portfolio: Plants as Primary Health Care
By Steffen Brøgger-Jensen

122 Elephant Hideout
An unusual population of mountain-climbing elephants
By Trevor Jones and Katarzyna Nowak

128 The Smaller Majority
Zooming in on the hidden world of arthropods
By Thomas Pape and Nikolaj Scharff

142 Portfolio: It’s All in the Eyes
By Andrew Perkin

144 Frogs without Limits
Amphibians daring to survive in the most peculiar places
By Kim M. Howell, Michele Menegon and Simon P. Loader

150 Redrawing the Map
The overlooked Southern Highlands and the case for their protection
By Tim R.B. Davenport

156 Making It Last
Conservation of the Udzungwa Mountains
By Francesco Rovero and Steffen Brøgger-Jensen

166 Acknowledgements
170 For Further Reading
172 About the Authors
176 Credits

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