Africa Study Reveals Keys To Preserving Elephants and Great Apes

A comprehensive review of threatened great apes and elephants in the tropical forests of the Congo Basin shows that the animals can thrive even in regions with logging concessions if effective anti-poaching patrols are established. The study, conducted by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, looked at elephant and great ape populations in three landscapes in and around the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the northern republic of Congo. The study showed that in addition to national parks being vital to survival of elephants and apes, areas with logging concessions also can support important populations if effective wildlife management — particularly anti-poaching patrols — is instituted. The landscape study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, said that logging concessions near the national park that lacked effective wildlife management had very low populations of elephants and apes. The Congo Basin is one of the world’s last remaining tropical wildernesses, but 30 percent of the region’s native forest is under contract to logging concessions.