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Ivindo National Park
Ivindo National Park is a national park in east-central Gabon in Central Africa, straddling the border of the Ogooué-Ivindo and Ogooué-Lolo provinces. Its creation was announced in August 2002 by then-President Omar Bongo at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, along with Gabon’s 12 other terrestrial national parks. Most famous for the spectacular Kongou and Mingouli waterfalls of the Ivindo River, known as the “wonders of Ivindo”, the park also includes the Ipassa Makokou Biosphere Reserve and Langoué Baï, one of the 5 most important forest clearings in Central Africa. The park was designated as a UNESCO UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021 for its outstanding biodiversity and relatively intact tropical forest ecosystem. Physical Geography Physical features of the park include the Ivindo River, the park is the main tributary to the Ogooué, and Mount Kingué (749 m) and Mount Ngouadi (870 m). Average rainfall is 1672 mm, with peaks in rainfall between September ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo on the east and south, and the Gulf of Guinea to the west. It has an area of nearly and its population is estimated at million people. There are coastal plains, mountains (the Cristal Mountains and the Chaillu Massif in the centre), and a savanna in the east. Since its independence from France in 1960, the sovereign state of Gabon has had three presidents. In the 1990s, it introduced a multi-party system and a democratic constitution that aimed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed some governmental institutions. With petroleum and foreign private investment, it has the fourth highest HDI in the region (after Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa) and the fifth highest GDP per capita (PPP) i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin (french: Bassin du Congo) is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Congo Basin region is sometimes known simply as the Congo. It contains some of the largest tropical rainforests in the world and is an important source of water used in agriculture and energy generation. The rainforest in the Congo Basin is the largest rainforest in Africa and second only to the Amazon rainforest in size, with 300 million hectares compared to the 800 million hectares in the Amazon. Because of its size and diversity, many experts have characterized the basin's forest as important for mitigating climate change because of its role as a carbon sink. However, deforestation and degradation of the ecology by the impacts of climate change may increase stress on the forest ecosystem, in turn making the hydrology of the basin more variable. A 2012 study found that the variability in precipita ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a non-governmental organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, that aims to conserve the world's largest wild places in 14 priority regions. Founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society (NYZS), the organization is now led by President and CEO Cristián Samper. WCS manages four New York City wildlife parks in addition to the Bronx Zoo: the Central Park Zoo, New York Aquarium, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo. Together these parks receive 4 million visitors per year."About Us" ''WCS.org'', accessed 23 November 2020 All of the New York City facilities are accredited by the (AZA). H ...
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Slender-snouted Crocodile
''Mecistops'' is a genus of crocodiles, the slender-snouted crocodiles, native to sub-Saharan Africa. Taxonomy and etymology Traditionally placed in ''Crocodylus'', recent studies in DNA and morphology have shown that it is in fact basal to ''Crocodylus'', thus was moved its own genus. This genus itself was long considered to contain only one species, '' M. cataphractus'', but recent genetic analysis has revealed the existence of two species: the West African slender-snouted crocodile (''M. cataphractus'') and the Central African slender-snouted crocodile (''M. leptorhynchus''). Both species diverged during the Miocene (about 6.5–7.5 million years ago) and are separated by the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Phylogeny The cladogram below is based on two studies that combined morphological and molecular (DNA sequencing) data. (Note that most morphological analyses find a closer relationship between ''Euthecodon'' and ''Brochuchus''.) Alternatively, other morphological studies h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Podostemaceae
Podostemaceae (riverweed family), a family in the order Malpighiales, comprise about 50 genera and species of more or less thalloid aquatic herbs. Distribution and habitat They are found mostly in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. Many species are found in a very small geographic area, often even just a single river or waterfall. Because of their small range, many species are seriously threatened, especially from habitat loss (for example, due to dams flooding their habitat). Riverweeds adhere to hard surfaces (generally rock) in rapids and waterfalls of rivers. They are submerged when water levels are high, but during the dry season they live a terrestrial existence, flowering at this time. Their root anatomy is specialized for the purpose of clinging to rocks, and in fact details of the root structure are one of the ways of classifying riverweeds. Ecology In many rivers, Podostemaceae are an important food source for a wide range of animals. For example, the tadp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey Parrot
The grey parrot (''Psittacus erithacus''), also known as the Congo grey parrot, Congo African grey parrot or African grey parrot, is an Old World parrot in the family Psittacidae. The Timneh parrot ''(Psittacus timneh)'' once was identified as a subspecies of the grey parrot, but has since been elevated to a full species. Taxonomy The grey parrot was Species description, formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus ''Psittacus'' and coined the binomial nomenclature, binomial name ''Psittacus erithacus''. Linnaeus erroneously specified the type locality (biology), type locality as "Guinea": the locality was later designated as Ghana in West Africa. The genus name is Latin for "parrot". The specific epithet ''erithacus'' is Latin and is derived from the Ancient Greek εριθακος (''erithakos'') for an unknown bird that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grey-necked Rockfowl
The grey-necked rockfowl (''Picathartes oreas'') is a medium-sized bird in the family Picathartidae with a long neck and tail. Also known as the grey-necked picathartes, this passerine is mainly found in rocky areas of close-canopied rainforest from south-west Nigeria through Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, and south-west Gabon. It additionally lives on the island of Bioko. Its distribution is patchy, with populations often isolated from each other. The rockfowl typically chooses to live near streams and inselbergs in its forested habitat. It has no recognized subspecies, though some believe that it forms a superspecies with the white-necked rockfowl. The grey-necked rockfowl has grey upperparts, a light grey breast, and lemon-coloured underparts. Its unusually long tail is used for balance, and its thighs are muscular. The head is nearly featherless, with the exposed skin being powder blue on the forehead and upper mandible and carmine on the hindcrown. The bird's cheeks and eyes a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest Elephants
The African forest elephant (''Loxodonta cyclotis'') is one of the two living African elephant species. It is native to humid forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It is the smallest of the three living elephant species, reaching a shoulder height of . Both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks, which erupt when they are 1–3 years old. It lives in family groups of up to 20 individuals. Since it forages on leaves, seeds, fruit, and tree bark, it has been referred to as the 'megagardener of the forest'. It contributes significantly to maintain the composition and structure of the Guinean Forests of West Africa and the Congolese rainforests. The first scientific description of the species was published in 1900. During the 20th century, overhunting caused a sharp decline in population, and by 2013 it was estimated that less than 30,000 individuals remained. It is threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation, and poaching. The conservation status of populations varies across r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Golden Cat
The African golden cat (''Caracal aurata'') is a wild cat endemic to the rainforests of West and Central Africa. It is threatened due to deforestation and bushmeat hunting and listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It is a close relative of both the caracal and the serval. Previously, it was placed in the genus ''Profelis''. Its body size ranges from with a long tail. Taxonomy ''Felis aurata'' was the scientific name used by Coenraad Jacob Temminck who described a reddish-brown coloured cat skin in 1827 that he had bought from a merchant in London. Temminck also described a grey coloured skin of a cat with chocolate brown spots that had lived in the menagerie in London. He named it ''Felis celidogaster''. ''Felis neglecta'' proposed by John Edward Gray in 1838 was a brownish grey cat skin from Sierra Leone. ''Felis rutilus'' proposed by George Robert Waterhouse in 1842 was a reddish cat skin from Sierra Leone. ''Felis chrysothrix cottoni'' proposed by Richard Lydekker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitatunga
The sitatunga or marshbuck (''Tragelaphus spekii'') is a swamp-dwelling antelope found throughout central Africa, centering on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, parts of Southern Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Ghana, Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia, Gabon, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. The sitatunga is confined to swampy and marshy habitats. Here they occur in tall and dense vegetation as well as seasonal swamps, marshy clearings in forests, riparian thickets and mangrove swamps. Taxonomy and genetics The scientific name of the sitatunga is ''Tragelaphus spekii''. The species was first described by the English explorer John Hanning Speke in 1863. Speke first observed the sitatunga at a lake named "Little Windermere" (now Lake Lwelo, located in Kagera, Tanzania). In his book ''Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile'', Speke called the animal "nzoé" (Kiswahili name for the animal) or "water-boc" (du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red River Hog
The red river hog (''Potamochoerus porcus'') or bushpig (a named also used for the '' Potamochoerus larvatus''), is a wild member of the pig family living in Africa, with most of its distribution in the Guinean and Congolian forests. It is rarely seen away from rainforests, and generally prefers areas near rivers or swamps.Kingdon, J. (1997). ''The Kingdon Guide to African Mammals.'' Academic Press Limited, London. Description The red river hog has striking orange to reddish-brown fur, with black legs and a tufted white stripe along the spine. Adults have white markings around the eyes and on the cheeks and jaws; the rest of the muzzle and face are a contrasting black. The fur on the jaw and the flanks is longer than that on the body, with the males having especially prominent facial whiskers. Unlike other species of pig native to tropical Africa, the entire body is covered in hair, with no bare skin visible. Adults weigh and stand tall, with a length of . The thin tail i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Forest Buffalo
The African forest buffalo (''Syncerus caffer nanus''), also known as the dwarf buffalo or the Congo buffalo, is the smallest subspecies of the African buffalo. It is related to the Cape buffalo (''Syncerus caffer caffer''), the Sudan buffalo (''Syncerus caffer brachyceros''), and the Nile buffalo (''Syncerus caffer aequinoctialis''). However, it is the only subspecies that occurs mainly in the rainforests of central and western Africa with an annual rainfall around 1,500 mm. It has been proposed to represent a distinct species, ''Syncerus nanus''. Description The African forest buffalo is a small subspecies of the African buffalo. Cape buffaloes weigh , whereas African forest buffaloes are much lighter, weighing in at 250 to 320 kg (550–705 lbs).Korte 115 Weight is not the only differentiation, however; this subspecies has a reddish-brown hide that is darker in the facial area. The shape and size of the horns distinguish African forest buffalo from the other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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