MAKENYA

A Citizen Science App for naturalists to report sightings of mammals in Kenya.

Kenya is one of the most important countries in Africa for the conservation of biodiversity (plants, animals). The country has an extensive network of protected areas including parks, reserves and forests, private and community sanctuaries, and still some remaining natural areas which still support wild animals. About 390 mammal species occur in Kenya. The distribution of these species in Kenya is not well known. Many people believe that the study of nature/mammals is an exclusive field of people who graduate from universities.

However, anybody can be a naturalist, if that person has passion for nature/mammals. That passion can be manifested in keenness in observations, photography and documentation of mammals - all of which can contribute significant information for understanding and conservation of the natural world of mammals. In July 2020, Kenya had a population of more than 50 million. Wherever one lives there are mammals, since mammal species occur everywhere, in the air, on land, in water and underground - in and outside protected areas. In addition, each year visitors from abroad come to Kenya on vacations. For example, in 2019 alone more than 2 million people from abroad toured Kenya. Harnessing the power of technology, especially the mobile based citizen science monitoring of mammals can contribute significant data that can help us to understand the distribution of Kenyan mammals.

The MAKENYA - Mammal Atlas Kenya project is a Kenyan citizen (public) science mobile based application to monitor mammals. The MAKENYA app can be freely downloaded and installed on a smartphone for use to record and report any type of mammal species one sees anywhere in Kenya. Any record/sighting of mammal species submitted is useful data which can help save that species in the long run.

The main aim of project MAKENYA are:

* Involve everyone in the study of Kenyan mammals

* Encourage everyone to contribute sightings of common and rare mammals

* Produce distribution maps of different mammal species in Kenya

* Analyse sighting data and publish in peer-reviewed journals

The Citizen Science App runs on the SPOTTERON Platform at www.spotteron.net.