A survey has found populations of elephant, gorillas and chimpanzees in and around two national parks in southeastern Cameroon has remained relatively stable since 2016. Conservation officials have welcomed this “positive” trend but warn that various threats persist in the region. The survey was conducted by WWF in collaboration with Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Boumba Bek National Park, Nki National Park, and nearby logging concessions and communal forests, covering a total area of 1.08 million hectares (2.68 million acres). It found an estimated 1,004 forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and 19,472 great apes (gorillas and chimps). The results further revealed that elephant density in the parks is 68% greater than in nearby logging concessions. However, the total elephant density in the parks still remains lower than in other protected areas in the Congo Basin. Meanwhile, the population of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Nki National Park tripled, and that of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) increased slightly in both parks. “The situation is positive,” says Gilles Etoga, conservation director at WWF Cameroon. “The fauna potential of Boumba Bek and Nki continues to be present and representative of the fauna and the great mammals of the Cameroonian forest and is quite well distributed over the two parks and their peripheral areas.” The region’s forest elephants were hit hard in the past. A previous survey, from 2015-2016, revealed a decline of more than 75% in the elephant population of Nki and Boumba Bek, which it attributed to poaching. The IUCN Red List…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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