Mone River Forest Reserve

Central Africa > Cameroon > Mone River Forest Reserve

Summary

• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) & Cross river gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli) are present in Mone River Forest Reserve.
• It has been estimated that 20-30 gorillas occur in the site.
• The great ape population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 538 km².
• Key threats to great apes are poaching and habitat loss due to logging and expansion of cocoa farms into the reserve.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

Mone River Forest Reserve is located approximately 7 km southeast of Takamanda National Park. The forest reserve was established in the 1950s. The landscape is topographically diverse, with hills rising from 350 m to almost 1,000 m above sea level (Dunn et al. 2014).

Table 1. Basic site information for Mone River Forest Reserve

Area	538 km²
Coordinates	5.885802 N, 9.485535 E
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, wetlands (inland) – bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, peatlands, arable land

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

The presence of gorillas in the reserve was only confirmed in 2000, with the discovery of a population in a mountainous region in the extreme northeast of the reserve, close to the village of Mbu (Dunn et al. 2014). Surveys in the north of the reserve have determined that gorillas use a relatively large area (100 km²), extending from the center of the reserve to the northern border and continuous with the gorilla range in the Mbulu-Mt. Oko region (Dunn et al. 2014). A few gorilla nest sites have been found at two sites outside the boundaries of the reserve (Dunn et al. 2014).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Mone River Forest Reserve

Species	Year	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Encounter rate (nests/km)	Area	Method	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Gorilla gorilla diehli	Unknown	20-30			Mone Forest Reserve (northern half)	Unknown	WCS Gorilla Guardian Program, as cited by Dunn et al. 2014

Threats

The main threats to the gorillas in this area are poaching and habitat loss (Dunn et al. 2014).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Mone River Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development	1.1 Housing & urban areas	Absent		No human settlements within the boundaries of the reserve (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High		The increasing price of cocoa in the international market has prompted many young people in the villages near the reserve to establish cocoa farms in the forest reserve (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Uncontrolled hunting (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	Present, but threat severity unknown		Unsustainable extraction of forest products (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	Present, but threat severity unknown		Timber exploitation (Dunn et al. 2014).	Ongoing (2014)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance		Unknown
7. Natural system modifications		Unknown
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases		Unknown
9. Pollution		Unknown
10. Geological Events		Absent
11. Climate change & severe weather		Unknown
12. Other options		Absent

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities in Mone River Forest Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Year of activity
1. Residential & commercial development	Not reported
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	Not reported
3. Energy production & mining	Not reported
4. Transportation & service corridors	Not reported
5. Biological resource use	Not reported
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	Not reported
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	Not reported
11. Habitat Protection	Not reported
12. Species Management	Not reported
13. Livelihood; Economic & Other Incentives	Not reported

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Mone River Forest Reserve

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Mone River Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Takamanda-Mone Landscape WCS

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Dunn, A., Bergl, R., Byler, D., Eben-Ebai, S., Etiendem, D. N., Fotso, R., ... & Williamson, E. A. (2014). Revised regional action plan for the conservation of the Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) 2014–2019. IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and Wildlife Conservation Society.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 18/12/2021