By Tom Butynski & Yvonne de Jong, Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme
The maned (or crested) rat Lophiomys imhausi is a distinctive, nocturnal, rodent present in scattered populations in woodlands and montane forests of northeast Africa from central Tanzania to east Sudan. Maned rats are herbivorous.
By Yvonne de Jong & Tom Butynski, Lolldaiga Hills Research Programme
Laikipia County, ca. 9,700 km², probably holds the highest diversity of larger mammal species of any region of its size in the world. Most of Laikipia County is covered by the Laikipia Plateau (ca. 1,600–2,400 m asl), an area composed of a mix of flat ground, undulating plains, rolling hills, steep hills, and scattered granitic inselbergs (or ’kopjes’).