Bouba Njida National Park is a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. A total of 23 antelope species occur in the park. The

painted hunting dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyc ...

, ''Lycaon pictus'', had been observed in Bouba Njida National Park at the start of the 21st century. This population of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

canid Canidae (; from Latin, ''canis'', "dog") is a biological family of dog-like carnivorans, colloquially referred to as dogs, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a canid (). There are three subfamilies found within the ...

is one of the few that remained in Cameroon as of the year 2000. In 2012, heavily armed poachers from

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

massacred some 200

savannah elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body m ...

s while on horseback thus wiping out more than half of the elephant population of the Bouba N’Djida National Park.

Background

Bouba Njida National Park covers an area of 220,000 hectares (540,000 acres). Initially it was established as a reserve in 1932. It was upgraded to level of park in 1980. The park is reported habitat is of savannah forest and the average elevation varies from 251 to 864m. The park receives an average annual rainfall of 1082 mm. The park is categorized under IUCN II. The

, ''Lycaon pictus'', considered critically endangered by

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 ...

has a count of 60 within Cameroon and they are reported from this park apart from two other national parks in the country. A total of 23 antelope species occur in the park.S.N. Stuart, Richard J. Adams, Martin Jenkins. 1990

Notes

References

* C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
* S.N. Stuart, Richard J. Adams, Martin Jenkins. 1990. ''Biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa and its islands: conservation, management, and sustainable use'', Biodiversity Conservation Strategy Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Species Survival Commission, Published by IUCN, 242 pages , National parks of Cameroon North Region (Cameroon) {{Africa-protected-area-stub

Background

See also

Notes

References