Safeguarding Ethiopian wolves in the Afroalpine ecosystem
Conservation focus:
Ethiopian wolf
Scientific name:
Canis simensis
Scientific classification:
Mammals, Carnivora, Canidae
IUCN status:
EDGE status:
EN (endangered)
Score 1.0, Rank 421 / 585 EDGE mammals
Threatened evolutionary history:
2 million years
Conservation priority by EDGE rank / ecosystem
Why it matters
This exemplary conservation programme demonstrates effective protection of a super-rare EDGE species along with numerous other endemic plants and animals of the unique Afroalpine habitat. It also extensively involves locals in a variety of functions. These are both essential for running the programme and for generating much-needed income for local communities. Locals also benefit from the one-health concept governing the approach of EWCP, for example through introducing routine rabies and distemper vaccination of domestic dogs, a disease reservoir threatening the focal species. Recurring rabies and canine distemper outbreaks, formerly a key issue, are currently mitigated through an oral vaccination programme for the Ethiopian wolves and domestic dogs. Other risks for the species remain or increase. Whilst EWCP created high levels of awareness across local communities, the growing human population encroaching on the wolves’ habitat will increase human-wildlife conflicts. This calls for preventive action involving the local communities so that awareness leads to meaningful reductions in conflict-prone behaviour. The project we currently support, "Living with wolves", addresses this increasing challenge.
Project fast facts
Focal species' population trend
Stable
Local conservation attention
High
Range / Project area
Ecological role
Apex predator in the Bale and Simien mountains ecosystem. Key regulator of Afroalpine rodent populations.
Threats
Spread of Rabies and canine distemper through domestic dogs; encroachment of agricultural substance farmland; reduction and fragmentation of suitable habitat (60% already converted to agriculture); proliferation of livestock grazing; reducing the food availability for diurnal rodents (the wolves’ primary prey species); direct persecution and human-wildlife conflicts with local communities; traffic increase.
Grant
First awarded:
$ 57,700 (since 2006)
27 October 2006
Score 1.0, Rank 421 / 585 EDGE mammals
Programme owner
EWCP, WildCRU, University of Oxford, UK
Programme contact
Prof. Claudio Sillero
Project location
Ethiopia
Dinsho park, Robe, Ethiopia
Addressing the need: Project goals
We address the threats to Ethiopian wolves and their Afroalpine habitat through awareness, habitat protection, supporting livelihoods, and science-led approaches to managing disease.
We learn and integrate new approaches and engage our partners to achieve behavioural change on the local communities and visitors.
The Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) is one of the rarest canids in the world, with only about 450 adult or subadult individuals counted across all Ethiopia in 2020-2022. This species lives in the Afroalpine habitat of Ethiopia's highland belt, where it specializes on endemic rodents as key prey.
EWCP fights the threats to Ethiopian wolves and their Afroalpine habitat through awareness, habitat protection, supporting livelihoods, and science-led approaches to managing disease. Its vision is to secure Ethiopian wolf populations and habitats across their present distribution, and to extend the species range, stressing its role as a flagship for the conservation of the Afroalpine ecosystem on which present and future generations of Ethiopians also depend.
From 2024 on, "Living with Wolves", a new EWCP activity (1wild project 240101405) aims to ‘foster coexistence through behavioural change’ – working to prevent issues with direct impacts on Ethiopian wolf survival. Whilst over 25 years of EWCP environmental education at local schools and communities near wolf ranges created high levels of awareness across communities, awareness did not necessary result in meaningful changes in specific behaviours leading to human-wildlife conflict.
Therefore, EWCP is shifting to fostering coexistence through promoting behavioural change. The Living with Wolves project aims to minimise impact of threats that affect the wolves’ welfare, directly though mortality or indirectly through disturbance and stress. These threats are emerging or increasing as the lives of people and wolves become more closely linked.
Conservation actions
Our support will help the EWCP team to identify these threats, learn and integrate new approaches, and engage our partners to affect behavioural change on the local communities and visitors. If we can reduce these sources of disturbances, the wolves will live longer and better lives.
Specifically, the funds will help
- expand EWCP Wolf Ambassadors initiative to further communities across the Bale Mountains
- support the ongoing field activities of EWCP Wolf Monitors in Bale – first line of defence in the early detection of disease, and the identification of disturbances and other human-wolf conflicts
- maintain community outreach campaigns orchestrated through the EWCP Community Leader and Veterinary Teams
- maintain competitive salaries to support field teams in the context of ongoing conflict and political unrest across Ethiopia.
Despite preying on rodents (an adaptation to its high altitude habitat) this beautiful canid is a true wolf.
This super-rare species inhabits the Afroalpine ecosystems of the Bale and Simien mountains
Dens are often dug between protective rocks.
Despite preying on rodents (an adaptation to its high altitude habitat) this beautiful canid is a true wolf.