Nembe mammal names
Roger Blench & Martin Walsh
08 January 2007
Sources: Kaliai 1966; Powell 1995; n.d.
Most English and scientific names follow Kingdon 1997; common names used by Powell 1995 in
parenthesis. Nigerian English names are shown in quotation marks.
Mammals
Nembe
adáka
(adikororo)
akan-ọbụgọ
bịlá
bólia
boú-obori
English
lion
western tree-hyrax
putty-nosed monkey
(putty-nosed guenon)
(male?) red river hog
with projecting tusks
African elephant
dolphin; dolphinfish
water chevrotain
ege-ọbụgọ
éke
(ekerebúpẹlẹ)
ékidi
olive colobus
black rat
bushbuck
lorisid spp.
émein
epu
manatee
pangolin spp.
ẹbẹịn
pygmy hippopotamus
gbeguru
red-legged sun
squirrel
savannah cane-rat
(greater cane-rat)
red river hog
giant-pouched rat
(giant rat) spp.
akatolútẹ ịmbị
ikpú-pẹlẹ
ịmbí
ịsụ
kesi-ọbụgọ
kẹké-ọbụgọ
kẹkụrụ
mona monkey
Sclater’s monkey
(Sclater’s guenon)
rope squirrel (tree
squirrel) spp.
kẹwá
mongoose spp.
kụró-nama
kpáko1
ofoni-ama-ama
leopard, ‘tiger’
red-capped mangabey
Lord Derby’s
anomalure (Derby’s
flying squirrel)
Beecroft’s anomalure
(Beecroft’s flying
squirrel)
black-fronted duiker
ofoni-ama-nanama-na-amatengi
ogodo
Scientific
Panthera leo
Dendrohyrax dorsalis
Cercopithecus nictitans. Cf. ọbụgọ
Potamochoerus porcus. Cf. ịmbí
Loxodonta africana
family Delphinidae; Coryphaena sp. [a fish]
Hyemoschus aquaticus. Also recorded as bou-óbiri, bouóbori
Procolobus verus. Also recorded as ége. Cf. ọbụgọ
Rattus rattus. Also recorded as eke
Tragelaphus scriptus
potto, Perodicticus potto; Calabar angwantibo, Arctocebus
calabarensis
Trichechus senegalensis
long-tailed pangolin (black-bellied pangolin), Uromanis
tetradactyla, tree pangolin (white-bellied pangolin),
Phataginus tricuspis
Hexaprotodon liberiensis (Nigerian pygmy hippopotamus, H.
l. heslopi)
Heliosciurus rufobrachium
Thryonomys swinderianus. Lit. ‘sugarcane-cutter’
Potamochoerus porcus. Cf. akatolútẹ ịmbị
Gambian giant-pouched rat (Gambian giant rat), Cricetomys
gambianus, Emin’s giant-pouched rat (Emin’s giant rat), C.
emini. Also identified as the Nigerian white-toothed shrew,
Crocidura nigeriae. Cf. tụrụ-éke
Cercopithecus mona. Lit. ‘true monkey’. Cf. ọbụgọ
Cercopithecus sclateri. Cf. ọbụgọ
Thomas’s rope squirrel (redless tree squirrel), Funisciurus
anerythrus, red-cheeked rope squirrel (orange-head tree
squirrel), F. leucogenys, fire-footed rope quirrel (fire-foot tree
squirrel), F. pyrropus. Also recorded as kékụrụ
marsh mongoose, Atilax paludinosus, and long-snouted
mongoose (long-nosed mongoose), Herpestes naso
Panthera pardus. Lit. ‘strong animal’. Cf. sírị
Cercocebus torquatus
Anomalurus derbianus
Anomalurus beecrofti. Lit. ‘bird of the man of the village’ [?]
Cephalophus nigrifrons
Nembe
ogurú
okpóko-lodudū
orupogí
otobá
ọbụgó
ọkẹlẹkẹ gbeguru
ọkọlọkọpogí
ọkú
ọlọgọlọ
ówọrọwósó
pẹịpẹínẹgị,
pẹịpẹínẹngị
piri-eke
pogí2
pụnụ
English
yellow-backed duiker
cusimanse
small bat sp.
hippopotamus
colobid and
cercopithecine
monkey spp.
African giant squirrel
(giant forest tree
squirrel)
a big bat which cries
throughout the night
African buffalo,
‘bush-cow’
African civet
brush-tailed
porcupine
whale
pygmy mouse
bat spp.
genet spp.
sírị
tele
leopard, ‘tiger’
chimpanzee, ‘gorilla’
teu
otter spp.
tẹndé-bịla-nẹngị
galago spp.
tomi
African palm civet
(two-spot palm civet)
sitatunga
Nigerian whitetoothed shrew
Maxwell's duiker
tụbará
turu-éke
wan
Scientific
Cephalophus silvicultor
Crossarchus obscurus
family Chiroptera
Hippopotamus amphibius
Cf. akan-ọbụgọ, ege-ọbụgọ, kesi-ọbụgọ, kẹké-ọbụgọ,
Protoxerus stangeri. Also recorded as okeleke
family Chiroptera
Syncerus caffer
Civettictis civetta
Atherurus africanus
order Cetacea
Mus minutoides
family Chiroptera
blotched genet (large-spot genet), Genetta tigrina pardina,
and servaline genet (crested genet), Genetta servalina cristata
Panthera pardus. < Kalabarị. Cf. kụró-nama
Pan troglodytes (probably West African chimpanzee, P. t.
verus)
African clawless otter (Cape clawless otter), Aonyx capensis,
and spot-necked otter, Lutra maculicollis
Allen’s squirrel galago (Allen’s galago), Galago alleni, and
Demidoff’s galago (dwarf galago), Galagoides demidoff
Nandinia binotata. Also recorded as otome, tomí
Tragelaphus spekei
Crocidura nigeriae. Also recorded as tụrụ-éke. Cf. ịsụ
Cephalophus maxwelli
Unidentified animals
gbelé1 small animal which drinks wine
ogugú animal with very thick hide
nu
animal sp. ???
obirí-aka canine tooth
kón
trunk of elephant
bịla-ódu elephant tusk