Central Africa Regional Conservation Program

The Central African rain forests are surely one of the wonders of the natural world. As a whole, they are second only to Amazonia in terms of land cover and are home to a complex array of interdependent plant and animal species. They are, however, increasingly at risk from a wide range of (mostly) human-induced factors, including human population expansion, commercial logging activities, hunting to supply the trade in bushmeat, and human-induced climate change.

The San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research established the Central Africa Regional Program in Cameroon in 2007 following five years of research focusing on one of the most spectacular primate species: the drill. The overall goal of the Central Africa program is to conduct research and conservation activities to aid in the long-term survival of these precious forests and their inhabitants.

There are several large mammal species endemic to this region. In addition to the drill, the Cameroon-Nigerian chimpanzee, a recently resurrected subspecies, is currently the subject of a Conservation Research study, as are the Ebo gorillas, a small isolated population of gorillas confined, for reasons we are yet to fully understand, to a very small area in the Ebo Forest in Cameroon.

Aspects of forest elephant population status and ecology are to be studied during the coming years by researchers with the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research in Cameroon, and botanical work focused in the region will continue in collaboration with the National Herbarium of Cameroon. The Institute has an active education program in the villages surrounding the Ebo Forest, and these outreach programs are being eagerly received by children and adults alike.

The Ebo Forest, where much of the work is currently centered, is in the process of being reclassified as a national park by the government of Cameroon, and the work being done by the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research is instrumental in making this transition welcomed by local communities.

Many of the species in the Central Africa region are represented in collections at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, including gorillas, bonobos, drills, many of the arboreal monkey species, red river hogs, and forest antelope species. Work in the Central Africa region involves administrative and field-based collaborations with local and international partners, capacity-building of local staff and communities, and conservation education activities.