Republic of Congo
- Gorilla Discovery in Northern Congo Video
- WCS researcher Emma Stokes recounts the discovery of 125,000 gorillas in northern Congo.
- ©WCS
- Children in the Republic of Congo Photo
- Congolese children are the future of conservation in the Republic of Congo.
- ©David Wilkie
- Republic of Congo Landscape Photo
- The Mbeli in the Republic of Congo.
- ©David Wilkie
- Western Lowland Gorilla Infant Photo
- Juvenile Western lowland gorilla.
- ©Thomas Breuer
Equatorial forest covers much of the Republic of Congo’s landscape, stretching from the Massif de Chaillu and Mayombe forests in the south to enormous tracts of primary forest in the north. The country’s remote northern forests harbor the highest known gorilla densities, including an estimated 125,000 western lowland gorillas discovered by WCS researchers in 2007. These forests form part of the larger Congo Basin, a region that spans six countries and contains a quarter of the world’s tropical forests.
The Republic of Congo is home to more than 400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species, and nearly 10,000 plant species, of which 3,000 are found nowhere else. Its forests have long been a source of food and shelter for hunter-gatherer societies, who have been hunting duikers, bush pigs, monkeys, and other mammals for generations. Animal products such as skins, horns, feathers, and bones play important roles in cultural and religious ceremonies. However, as human populations grow and their natural resource base continues to shrink due to industrial exploitation, they seek access into formerly remote areas. Increasingly, roads crisscross the forest, and urban societies are putting down new roots there. As a result, many of the region’s large mammals, such as forest elephants, western gorillas, and chimpanzees, have become endangered.
Fast Facts
- A recent WCS census revealed unexpectedly large numbers of great apes are alive and well in remote forests in northern Republic of Congo. The news effectively doubled the estimated worldwide population of western lowland gorillas.
- The Republic of Congo’s forests have not always covered their current area, but have naturally expanded and contracted over long periods of time and with ice ages and droughts.
- The Congo Basin constitutes the second largest block of dense humid tropical forest after the Amazon.
- The vast Lac Tele Community Reserve, one of WCS’s areas of focus, and the adjacent Lac Tumba Reserve in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, together form Africa’s largest wetland.
- This wetland is a haven for aquatic birds, dwarf crocodiles, lowland gorillas, and bonobos.
- In Conkouati-Douli National Park and along the coast of Congo, forest habitats for terrestrial giants, such as elephants and great apes, meet marine habitats for ocean giants, such as whales and sea turtles.
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Challenges
More than 60 million people inhabit the Congo Basin, and the area’s abundance of animals and plants constitute an essential source of food and shelter. Other resources, particularly timber, crude oil, and minerals, are also exploited on the commercial level as the region’s national economies develop. Poorly planned harvest and extraction of those resources pose the greatest harm to wildlife and their habitats in the Republic of Congo. In addition to hunting for the bushmeat trade, which threatens many mammal species, the deadly and unpredictable Ebola virus poses a serious threat to the continued survival of the region’s great apes.
WCS Responds
WCS is the sole conservation NGO working in the Republic of Congo to protect its elephants, gorillas, sitatunga, and other threatened species. Since the early 1990s, WCS has assisted the Republic of Congo in managing the wildlife and habitat of its protected areas, including Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Conkouati-Douli National Park, and Odzala-Kokua National Park. In addition, WCS has partnered with both government and communities to create and manage the Lac Tele Community Reserve, and with logging companies to protect wildlife in timber concessions that surround national parks.
WCS is collecting crucial information on the behavior and life histories of many elusive forest species, such as gorillas and elephants, through research at forest clearings known as “baïs.” These habitats are important resources for many of Congo’s threatened species. Our conservationists are also investigating the direct and indirect effects of commercial logging on wildlife, and advise the government on planning for sustainable resource use and creating adequate policies to protect the forests. WCS field veterinarians also conduct crucial research on the Ebola virus, and are testing methods of vaccine delivery to wild apes.
WCS Projects
As the eyes and ears for conservationists, ecoguards work not only to protect national parks and surrounding lands, but also to help evaluate the success of international conservation efforts.
WCS works with the CIB logging company to reduce the pressures on gorillas, elephants, and other endangered wildlife in four timber concessions and to control the trade in bushmeat. This collaborative project is called PROGEPP: the Project for Ecosystem Management in the Nouabalé-Ndoki Periphery Area.
Throughout Ebola high-risk zones, our researchers assess great ape health and improve Ebola prevention awareness in remote communities.
The Bronx Zoo’s Congo Gorilla Forest features one of the largest groups of western lowland gorillas in North America, and is among the world’s first zoo exhibits to directly give visitors a stake in wildlife conservation in the field.
From the Newsroom
Researchers working in the Republic of Congo find that bigger adult male western lowland gorillas have a better chance of attracting mates and raising healthy offspring. The study looked at overall body length and the size of head crest and gluteal muscles in 19 silverbacks at Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park.
The Republic of Congo formally expands Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park to help protect a rare population of chimps, known for both their skillful tool use and greenness to people.
The Republic of Congo sends a Chinese ivory smuggler to jail, an example of the tough
law enforcement that WCS recommends for combating the illegal wildlife trade.
In the rainforests of Central Africa, hunters are finding their way into once inaccessible terrain, spelling disaster for forest elephants.
WCS and IUCN launch an international, decade-long action plan to protect eastern chimpanzees by safeguarding 16 crucial areas where their populations number around 48,000 individuals.
WCS conducts the first landscape-wide survey of how land-use affects chimpanzees, gorillas, and forest elephants.
Poorly planned roads, which are spreading across Central African wilderness areas, attract poachers and cause fear and death among forest elephants.
A new census finds a massive gorilla population previously unknown to scientists. WCS and the Government of Congo have tallied more than 125,000 western gorillas in the northern Republic of Congo. This is great news for the critically endangered western lowland gorilla, which had been believed to number only 50,000 in total.