ABSTRACT
The Ethiopian landscape has undergone remarkable modifications due to physical and chemical weathering caused by constant atmospheric exposures, volcanic activities, rainfall, wind, glacial erosion of the highly elevated areas, and biological activities. The result was the formation of diverse topographical conditions with extreme vertical range from over 4,620 metres (m) above sea level at Mount Dashen in the Semien Mountains to one of the lowest and hottest places on earth in the Dallol Depression in the Rift Valley, 120 m below sea level. Between these two contrasting elevations exists a series of contiguous bioclimatic stages ranging from the extreme desert with no vegetation of any kind to semi-desertsavanna with Acacia panicum to mountains with Juniperus, Olea, Podocarpus, and Hagenia abyssinica, and afro-alpine formations such as Alchemilla and Lobelia.1 This geologic and geographic transformation has stimulated the evolution of a broad spectrum of plant and animal species, many of which are replicated nowhere else on earth. Human activities over the last five millennia, however, have profoundly transformed the landscape of northern Ethiopia. Woody vegetation, which once covered much of the highlands, has been cleared for agriculture and grazing. Mountain forests have been relentlessly removed for fuel and construction. The habitats of most wild creatures and plants have suffered severely in much of the highland areas of the country with a long history of human occupancy. Most of the original highland vegetation is long gone. Many of the species of wildlife in the highlands, especially the larger ones, have also been eliminated. Lions, elephants, tigers, and other large animals are said to have roamed the highlands of northern Ethiopia. Almost all of these animals have been decimated.2
