The wildlife of Gabon is composed of its

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

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 ...

is a largely low-lying country with a warm, humid

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

. Much of the country is still covered by

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...

and there are also

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

s, large rivers and coastal lagoons.

Overview

Wildlife includes

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 should ...

, forest buffalos, various

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...

and

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

species,

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, ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

s, three species of

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

s and

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

s, and several marine turtle species which nest along the coast. As of 2002, there were at least 190 species of mammals.

Fauna

Mammals

Gabon has important populations of many

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s including about 35,000

s, 50,000 forest elephants and 64,000

common chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close r ...

s. About a quarter of Africa's gorillas live in Gabon. Other large mammals include the

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

, forest buffalo, bongo and

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 rarel ...

. A variety of monkeys occur, including the endemic

Sun-tailed monkey The sun-tailed monkey (''Allochrocebus solatus'') from Gabon is one of the least studied primates in its habitat. It was discovered as a new species in 1988, and is classified as a guenon, which is a member of the genus ''Cercopithecus'', but was ...

, and the near-endemic

mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males ...

and white-collared managabey (here near-endemic meaning most of the individuals of these species are in Gabon, but that they also occur in the neighbouring countries as well). Carnivorous mammals include the leopard, golden cat, and various

jackals Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

s, genets and

civet A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species diversity ...

s. The last lion was killed in 1996 in the savannahs of the east of the country. The

West African manatee The African manatee (''Trichechus senegalensis''), also known as the West African manatee, is a species of manatee that inhabits much of the western region of Africa – from Senegal to Angola. It is the only manatee species to be found in the ...

is found along coasts and large rivers while the

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

breeds offshore.

Birds

There are 604 species of birds throughout the country (data from BirdLife International, 2013). None of these are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

but some such as the Dja River warbler, Verreaux's batis, African river martin and

black-chinned weaver The black-chinned weaver (''Ploceus nigrimentus'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae Ploceidae is a family of small passerine birds, many of which are called weavers, weaverbirds, weaver finches and bishops. These names come from t ...

are restricted to Central Africa and have only small ranges. The grey-necked picathartes and

Loango weaver The Loango weaver (''Ploceus subpersonatus'') is a species of bird in the family Ploceidae. It is found in Angola, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, d ...

are classed as

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Reptiles

A variety of

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s are found including the

Gaboon viper The Gaboon viper (''Bitis gabonica''), also called the Gaboon adder, is a viper species found in the rainforests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa.McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geog ...

Sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, ...

s breed along the coast, particularly the leatherback turtle.

Flora

There are over 7000 species of native

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They al ...

in Gabon. About 22% of these are endemic. New species are still being discovered such as the tree '' Cola lizae'' which was first described in 1987.

Conservation

Wildlife in Gabon faces a number of threats including

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

and

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

. However 11% of the country's area is now protected in a network of 13

national parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

established in 2002.

References

*African Bird Club (2008)
Birds and birding in Gabon
'. Accessed 18 June 2008. *Warne, Sophie (2003) ''Gabon, São Tomé and Príncipe: the Bradt Travel Guide'', Bradt.

External links

National Geographic News. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wildlife Of Gabon Biota of Gabon