The Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee faces extinction as it fights a losing battle against innumerable threats ABHIJIT MOHANTY
The threats to their existence are many. In the drier parts of their habitat range such as the Mbam Djerem National Park, the Bamenda Highlands in Cameroon and Gashaka Gumti and Mambilla in Nigeria, pastoralists have encouraged forest fires to provide more grazing land for their livestock, which are subsequently being converted to farmlands. Habitat destruction has increased noise distrubances, forcing the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzees to move into areas occupied by other chimpanzee communities, where they face aggression, resulting in fatalities.
Conservation biologists Jennifer Arubemi Agaldo, Gwom Thomas Gwom and Paul Tersoo Aperverga conducted a survey in 2011-2012 and found the habitat areas littered with spent cartridges, wire snares and logged trees. This indicates that chimpanzees are under serious threat from hunting and poaching activities, and the presence of logged wood indicates habitat destruction and degradation.
Bushmeat and habitats
This story is from the September 1, 2017 edition of Down To Earth.
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This story is from the September 1, 2017 edition of Down To Earth.
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