An annotated check list of the land mammal fauna of the West Coast National Park

Abstract

Some 4 000 Barn Owl pellets with small mammal remains have been collected over a period of nine years from two locations at the south end of the Langebaan lagoon. Two small samples of bones from archaeological sites on the Churchhaven peninsula provide evidence for past mammal occurrences. The remains of small mammals from the owl pellet collections provide an initial list of 18 species that occur within theWest Coast National Park. Subsequent conventional censusing by means of trapping and observational techniques to assess the small and large mammal species diversity of the area were conducted during 1989. This study documents the definite occurrence of 63 mammal species in the park, seven of which are exotics. The presence of a further five species requires confirmation. Interesting insight is gained into how direct censusing and owl pellet analyses augment each other in establishing the presence of small mammal taxa of an area.