Tanzania The Promised Land Tanzania The Promised Land | Page 8

Udzungwa
Mountains
National Park
Tanzania The Promised Land
Udzungwa Mountains National Park is a national park
in Tanzania with a size of 1,990 square kilometers. The
habitats contained within the national park include tropical
rainforests, mountain forests, miombo woodlands, grasslands
and steppes. The vertical height ranges from 250 to
2,576 metres (the peak of Lohomero), which incorporates
the Udzungwa Mountains part of the Eastern Arc Mountains.
There are more than 400 bird species, 2500 plant species
(25% of which are endemics) and 6 primate species, five
of which are endemic. The Iringa Red Colobus and Sanje
Crested Mangabey monkeys are only found in the Udzungwa
Mountains National Park. The Mangabey were completely
undetected by biologists until 1979.
The Kihansi spray toad (Nectophrynoides asperginis) is
a small toad endemic to Tanzania. Unfortunately, this
toad was categorized as “Extinct in the wild” by
the International Union for Conservation of Nature
(IUCN). It was native only to a two hectare area
at the base of the Kihansi River waterfall in
the Udzungwa escarpment. The Bronx Zoo has
since initiated a project where almost 500 Kihansi
spray toads were taken from their native gorge in
2001 and placed in six zoos throughout the United
States. This project was created to revive native
populations. After successful breeding programs, the
toads have been re-introduced to their natural habitat.
The Udzungwa Red Colobus (Procolobus gordonorum)
or Iringa Red Colobus, is a species of primate in the family
Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to riverine and montane
forests in the Udzungwa Mountains in Tanzania, but is
currently threatened by habitat loss.
has the Second Largest Biodiversity
of a National Park in Africa
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