1 | INTRODUCTION
Mammals are among the most widely distributed organisms in the world and occur from the antarctic to desert ecosystems (Jenkinsaet al ., 2013).Mammals are biologically the most successful groups of animals with the possible exception of arthropods (Stanbury, 1972). Due to diversity in size and morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptation, mammals colonize diverse habitat types(Ceballos and Ehrlich, 2006). Mammals haveapproximately5,416 numbers of extant species on the globe (Geleta andBekele, 2016), out of which 2277 (42%) rodents (Rodentia), 1116 (20.6%) bats (Chiroptera), and 428 (7.9%) shrews and allies (Soricomorpha) comprise the largest species (Wilsonand and Reeder, 2005).Ethiopia possesses wide geographic, topographic, and climatic variations, which, serves as home to a large number of endemic mammalian species (Bantihunand Bekele, 2015). Around 320 species, of 55 are endemic, including 39 endemics (both small and large mammals), which ranks the country among the most diverse mammalian faunas in Africa (World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), 2013; Lavrenchenko and Bekele, 2017).
Mammals are the most important components of terrestrial ecosystems (Bogoniaet al ., 2017) and provide vital ecological functions such as pollination and seed dispersal (Alves - Costa and Eterovick, 2007; Botelhoet al ., 2012), keeping ecological stability via predator-prey interaction(Herrerias‐Diego et al ., 2008; Botelhoet al ., 2012) and source of food and income generation like tusks, horns, and ivory (Boeschetal ., 2017).However, mammals are experiencing greater population declines because of various reasons (IUCN, 1996). These include low reproductive rates, large body size, habitat fragmentation, over-exploitation, and low rate of body growth, low generation time and requirement of large area (Vaughan, 2000; Cardilloet al ., 2005). Among the known species of mammals, 25% are threatened, 11% are endangered, 4% are critically endangered and approximately 2% of the known modern day mammals have gone extinct in the last 400 years (IUCN, 1996).
Surveying is an important requirement to know the status of mammal’s species (Keeping andPelletier, 2014).Mammal inventories are essential tools for the proper conservation strategies and management practices (Legese, et al ., 2019). There are several previous studies conducted in protected area of Ethiopia(e.g. Yalden, 1988; Bekele, 1998;Woldegeorgis andWube, 2012, Kasso and Bekele, 2014;Geleta and Bekele, 2016; Wale et al ., 2017; Kasso and Bekele, 2017; Atnafu and Yihune, 2018).Even though, studies conducted on mammals mainly targetedNational Parks and sanctuaries (Kassoand Bekele, 2014), the survey outside those area like protected forest and other fragmented areais still finger counted. Vast area remains biologically unexplored due to a major habitat block within the country. A complete inventory of mammals on different ecosystem types of Ethiopia does not exist and is not well documented (Tefera, 2011).Extensive study is needed to document the diversity of mammals which have ecological and ecotourism value and isalso important to design future conservation policies on the biodiversity of the region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to survey and document the species composition of medium andlarge sized mammals and their major threats in Amoro protected forest.