Stakeholders’ perceptions of mammal occurrence and abundance on agricultural properties bordering the Boland Mountain Complex, South Africa

The encroachment of agricultural landscapes on natural ecosystems poses a significant threat to native wildlife persistence. In the Boland Mountain Complex (BMC), presence mammals was well documented in 20th century, but an updated account is lacking. This study relied Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) elucidate perceived medium- large-sized (>300 g) mammal occurrences, distribution ranges, and relative abundance private properties adjacent protected areas BMC. total, 30 species were reported be present, inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolations created for that had more than five independent citations (n = 24), display abundance-distributions beyond scope sampled locations. Species with severely isolated abundance-distribution profiles (e.g. leopard, Panthera pardus, Cape clawless otter, Aonyx capensis honey badger, Mellivora capensis), low overall incidence aardwolf, Proteles cristata Smith’s red rock rabbit, Pronolagus rupestris), non-native high incidences feral dog, Canis familiaris pig, Sus scrofa) identified, can now prioritised further future research conservation efforts within BMC region.