A Transverse Zoo-geographical Barrier on the East Side of Lake Tanganyika

Abstract

No outstanding discontinuity of animal distribution as one proceeds from north to south down the east side of Lake Tanganyika would be inferred from most maps of the region. It is obvious only that along much of the Lake shores the land rises to above 5,000 ft., which has been generally accepted as the approximate lower level of the Highland life-zone in Central Africa. The latest maps¹, which are a great advance on their predecessors, show plainly that on the east side of the Lake the highland country falls into three parts: (a) the narrow strip north of Kigoma, which, through Urundi, is continuous with the Kivu and Mufumbiro mountain area, and on the south is separated by the depression centring round the Malagarasi River from (b) the much-dissected Kungwe, Mahari, Baholoholo high country, separated on the south by the low gap round Karema from (c) the Ufipa Plateau, which is continuous with the highlands on the Northern Rhodesian border and round the head of Lake Nyasa.