Mupa National Park (6019)
Angola, Africa
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2001
National site name: Mupa National Park
Central coordinates: Latitude: -16.1833, Longitude: 15.7500
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 1150 to 1150
Area of KBA (km2): 5367.58952
Protected area coverage (%): 97.48
KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)
Additional biodiversity: See Box and Table 3 for key species. The avifauna is virtually unstudied and the total species list for the park is likely to be higher than the 182 species that have been collected on the margins of the park. The importance of the site is in the relatively high species-richness of Zambezian woodland species (one species of the Kalahari–Highveld biome has also been recorded) and in the wetland habitats along the Calongo and Cuvelai rivers, where the globally threatened Grus carunculatus is frequent and probably breeds. The small lakes provide extensive areas for aquatic birds and these areas, together with flood-plains, support at least 31 species of waterbird (21% of Angolan list), some in numbers which are at least nationally significant. There may be regular movements of waterbirds between southern Angola and wetlands further south. The park is one of the few places in Angola where three similar-sized glossy starlings overlap—Lamprotornis nitens occurs in fine-leaved and broadleaved woodlands, L. chalybaeus occurs in miombo and other broadleaved woodlands, and L. acuticaudus occurs in miombo woodland. Non-bird biodiversity: The park was established as a reserve in 1938 to protect a population of the mammal Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis, and was raised to National Park status in 1964, but by the early 1970s the resident giraffe population had apparently been exterminated (Huntley 1974a). Large herbivores present in the park include Aepyceros melampus petersi (Huntley 1974a), and carnivores include Panthera leo (VU) (Cabral 1987; Cabral and Simões 1988). Bats collected in the general area include Epomophorus angolensis (LR/nt) (Cabral 1989).
Habitats
Land use: agriculture | nature conservation and research
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Shrubland | 11 | |
| Grassland | 25 | |
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 62 | |
| Forest | 1 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: There is a large resident population of people within the park, which situation, together with nomadic pastoralists and mineral prospecting activities (Huntley 1974a), threatens to reduce the remaining biodiversity in the park.
Additional information
References: Huntley (1974a).