Mammals, Turtles, Elasmobranchs and Island Biota

Island biota was examined for small islands within archipelago of the larger islands of Pemba, Mafia or Unguja (the latter often known as Zanzibar). There were three areas, out of an overall total of fifteen, that are important for small island biota in the ecoregion: Misali and Chole Islands (on Pemba and Mafia, respectively) and the small islands in the Tanga-Msambweni area (see table below). The latter were ranked as being of subregion importance whereas there was insufficient information to assign a rank to the former two areas. Three sites were designated as being of ecoregion importance because of their significance as breeding areas for threatened species: Bazaruto (dugong and turtles), Boa Paz-Inhambane (turtles) and Mamburi-Kiunga (turtles). The presence of smaller breeding areas was also a factor in the assignation of the six areas of subregion importance. Insufficient information was available to assign a rank to five areas although they are thought to be important. There are three cross border sites: Tanga-Msambweni (Kenya- Tanzania), *Pemba-Lindi (Mozambique-Tanzania) and Maputo-St. Lucia (Mozambique-South Africa).

*This refers to Pemba Town in northern Mozambique and not Pemba Island in northern Tanzania.

Summary of important sites for mammals, turtles, elasmobrachs and island biota

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