Wildlife of Zambia

This article provides an overview, and outline of the main wildlife areas or regions, and compact lists of animals focusing on prevalence and distribution in the country rather than on taxonomy.

The cause of this decline is the four-fold increase in human population in the last fifty years and consequent loss of habitat, especially of forest and woodland.

In the economic boom of the 1940s and 1950s, the mines and factories of the Copperbelt provided wages to pay for food grown commercially on a relatively small amount of land.

Thirdly, poor environmental management by government and a certain amount of corruption in some quarters has allowed poaching and uncontrolled exploitation of resources.

The possibility of recruiting chiefs as modern-day managers of natural resources is hampered by rivalries with political leaders.

These include: most birds, except those whose breeding habitats are reduced; smaller mammals, such as bats, shrews, rodents, mongooses, the nocturnal small cats, vervet monkeys and galagos; and reptiles such as the Nile monitor and most snakes and lizards, except forest species.

[2] The main wildlife-rich areas of the country are: The most urban and industrial of Zambia's provinces lacks wildlife, except in the south-west where in flooded grassland habitats interspersed with miombo woodland, and except for birdlife, which is well represented near rivers and small lakes between towns.