Sierra Leone’s chimp population is double previous estimates

Good news (for a change it seems!) on the wildlife font. Chimpanzee and Gorilla safari tours are a must on most adventure travelers bucket lists. While in some areas populations are dwindling and struggling to survive, there’s a good news story coming out of Sierra Leone!

“Now thought to be about 4,000 wild chimpanzees
July 2010: The encouraging preliminary findings of a chimpanzee census in Sierra Leone have been released after conclusion of the fieldwork last month. It is thought the country is now home to about 4,000 chimpanzee – double previous estimates. This exciting news gives new hope for the survival of the endangered Western Chimpanzee but also reveals that there are many threats to the remaining chimps.

ONE OF MANY: Christo, one of the residents at Tacugama Chimpanzee Sancturary, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year

The survey was commissioned by Sierra Leone’s Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary – and is the first formal estimate since 1981, when it was concluded that about 2,000 wild chimpanzees remained in the wild, predominantly in protected forest reserves. Tacugama has been operating for 15 years, and receives and rehabilitates orphaned chimps from across the country. It was nearly 30 years since that last estimate was made and it became increasingly urgent to determine a more accurate number and to confirm where chimpanzees could be found in the wild.

Staff at the sanctuary wanted to get a clearer idea of the current situation so that more effective protection measures could be implemented and the flow of orphans to the centre could be stemmed. With support from PASA (Pan African Sanctuary Alliance in April 2008 we prepared a proposal for the census, gained approval from the Government of Sierra Leone and raised enough funds to start the initial phases of the project in October 2008. The census fieldwork concluded last month. The final report on the findings will be available at the end of July.

The project has provided much valuable information on the state of habitat, impact of human encroachment and other large mammal species as well as the distribution and abundance of wild chimpanzees in Sierra Leone. The groundbreaking approach has resulted in a systematic and extensive survey.

How to count chimpanzees
Counting chimpanzees across an entire country is a complicated task. Because it is realistically impossible to count every single chimpanzee, some sort of estimate must be made. Chimpanzees may occur in many different habitat types and we are using several different methods, each one according to the type of habitat to be surveyed.
Chimpanzees are difficult to see in the wild so we look for their signs. Signs can include direct sightings, feeding remains, dung, or nests. Nests are the most commonly observed signs. Chimpanzees create a new nest each night to sleep in by bending branches into a solid bowl up in a tree. These can remain visible for up to several months.

What happens next
There is much work now to be done to follow up on the information gathered and Tacugama is already working to promote ownership of conservation at the grassroots level where developing sustainable livelihoods is the challenge among very poor communities.
A key step will be the delivery of a population and habitat viability assessment workshop in Sierra Leone at the end of 2010 that will involve key stakeholders and result in the delivery of a realistic chimpanzee conservation action plan.”

To read the original article from Wildlifeextra.com click here.

If you are interested in a Gorilla/Chimp wildlife encounter contact us or check out these tours that offer just that.