Mammals under pressure: presence data for assessing extinction of endemic, threatened and mammals subject to use in Colombia

Colombia is the sixth country in mammal richness worldwide (553 species) and the fourth in the Americas. This high diversity presents significant conservation and management challenges. Although knowledge of mammalian biology has advanced, the 2006 “Libro Rojo de los Mamíferos de Colombia” was the last major effort to assess the risk category for the country's mammals. New risk assessments require updated species records, especially for little-documented taxa. This dataset contains records of 136 mammal species (24.6% of the national total) provided by 51 institutions from trail cameras and museum specimens. It also includes occurrence comments useful for identifying priority conservation areas. This is the first dataset to compile Colombian mammal records from trail cameras, human observations and biological collections. We assembled 97,921 unpublished records of 136 species, including 36 endemic, 92 used by humans and 56 categorised as Data Deficient or threatened (national/international). The data span 30 of 32 Departments, offering vital input for future distribution and conservation assessments. While most records (n = 96,417; 98.4%) are from non-invasive methods like trail cameras, museum specimens (n = 1,310) were crucial for small, medium and restricted-distribution species. This joint interinstitutional effort provides a foundation for comprehensively assessing the conservation status of all mammals in Colombia.