Abstract
<jats:p>Ethiopia supports a distinctive mammalian fauna shaped by strong environmental and elevational gradients, including endemic and range-restricted taxa. Conservation increasingly occurs in landscapes where habitat transformation, human–wildlife conflict, disease and other anthropogenic pressures interact. We conducted a structured narrative review of evidence on wild terrestrial mammals in Ethiopia to examine how biological vulnerability interacts with landscape change and direct human pressures, and to identify implications for wildlife conservation and management. We synthesized evidence on mammalian diversity and distribution, habitat associations, protected areas, monitoring, habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting, human–wildlife conflict, disease, climate change and conservation responses. The evidence indicates that range-restricted and habitat-specialist mammals are particularly vulnerable where suitable habitat is reduced or fragmented, whereas widespread species may persist in modified landscapes while experiencing greater exposure to conflict, disease and persecution. Protected areas remain essential but cannot secure populations whose ecological requirements extend into surrounding landscapes. Conservation should therefore combine protection of core habitats with ecological connectivity, context-specific coexistence measures, wildlife-health surveillance and standardized long-term monitoring. We identify major evidence gaps in small and cryptic mammals, lowland and human-dominated landscapes, repeated population surveys and nationally coordinated monitoring. An integrated landscape approach offers a stronger basis for maintaining mammalian populations under continuing environmental and socioeconomic change.</jats:p>