Abebe Getahun

Centers of Endemism in Animal Distribution Abebe Getahun

Zoogeography discusses the patterns of the past, present and future distribution of animals. It is explained in terms of ecological and historical aspects. The distribution of animals all over the globe is not uniform. It has been influenced throughout the long history of the connection and isolations of the continents. The drifting of the continents led to the formation of barriers and thus animals that had common ranges previously to have disjunct distributions. Continental drift also contributed to global climate changes accompanied by formation or disappearance of land bridges that resulted in connection or isolation of different landmasses during the glacial and interglacial periods, respectively, altering the distribution of animals. Animals localized in separate areas like the islands and/or isolated highlands tend to follow different evolutionary lines of development from that of the mainland counterparts and gradually tend to be endemic to that island and/or highland. In addition to the natural factors, human beings also affected the distribution of animals since the history of mankind mainly by habitat destruction, hunting and introduction of exotic species.