Check List 21(1): 1-11, doi: 10.15560/21.1.1
Medium-sized and large bodied mammals of Marshall Wetlands, a proposed protected area in Liberia
Allen Gweh‡, Allison Bailey§, Ana Filipa Palmeirim§, Jackson Poultolnor‡, Henry Toe‡, Wing Crowley‡, Catherine Machalaba§, James Desmond‡, Jenny Desmond‡, Paula R. Prist§‡ Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection, Marshall, Liberia§ EcoHealth Alliance, New York, United States of America
Corresponding author: Paula R. Prist ( pprist@hotmail.com ) Academic editor: William Tavares © Allen Gweh, Allison Bailey, Ana Filipa Palmeirim, Jackson Poultolnor, Henry Toe, Wing Crowley, Catherine Machalaba, James Desmond, Jenny Desmond, Paula R. Prist. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Gweh A, Bailey A, Palmeirim AF, Poultolnor J, Toe H, Crowley W, Machalaba C, Desmond J, Desmond J, Prist PR (2025) Medium-sized and large bodied mammals of Marshall Wetlands, a proposed protected area in Liberia. Check List 21(1): 1-11. https://doi.org/10.15560/21.1.1 |  |
Abstract
Liberia comprises 43% of the upper Guinean tropical forest of West Africa, a global hotspot with high levels of biodiversity and endemism succumbing to accelerated rates of deforestation. Due in part to the country’s past civil war, knowledge about much of Liberia’s remaining local biodiversity is limited. To help fill this gap, we surveyed medium‑sized and large‑bodied mammals in a proposed protected area, the Marshall Wetlands, in Margibi County, Liberia. Using 21 camera traps, in an effort of 33,120 hours, and track surveys along trails, between July 2022 and May 2023, we confirmed the presence of 13 medium‑sized and large mam‑ mal species. Of these, four species have some degree of threat in the IUCN Red List. Despite its proximity to the capital city of Monrovia, the Marshall Wetlands comprise significant biodiversity, highlighting its conservation value and reinforcing the value of improved protected status.
Keywords
Biodiversity, camera‑trapping, mangrove, species list, tropical forest, West Africa