Grace Ngaruiya
- Project name: Status survey of the Golden-rumped sengi (Rhynchocyon chrysopygus) in the northern coastal forests of Kenya
- Project site: Boni and Dodori Forests, Kenya
- EDGE species: Golden-rumped sengi Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
- Active: 2008 - 2008
Biography
Grace Wambui Ngaruiya lives in a small Rift valley province town called Ngong on the outskirts of Nairobi. Grace graduated with a degree in Zoology from the University of Nairobi and later worked in the Eastern province of Kenya, assessing the effect of ranch subdivision on biodiversity. She recently completed a Master’s degree in Biology of Conservation at the same university.
EDGE Project
For her EDGE project Grace researched the little-known, but endangered and endemic, small mammal known as the golden-rumped elephant-shrew or sengi. The overall aim of Grace’s research was to assess the status and population size (presence, distribution and abundance) of the golden-rumped elephant-shrew in the poorly known Boni and Dodori Forests. She also aimed to gather data on the threat processes impacting the habitats and elephant-shrew populations in this region, one of the two major sites this elephant-shrew is found along with the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest further south.
Her project objectives were to:
- Assess the presence/absence of golden-rumped elephant-shrews in the Boni and Dodori coastal forests
- Assess the extent of likely habitat for the golden-rumped elephant-shrew throughout its distribution
- Assess the relative abundance of golden-rumped elephant-shrews in representative habitats in Boni and Dodori for comparison with published data from the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest
- Establish the conservation status of the golden-rumped elephant-shrew and its habitat, and make management recommendations