Changes

= Site characteristics = <!-- A paragraph summary of physical and geographic aspects of the site, and a table of key information -->

= Site characteristics = <!-- A paragraph summary of physical and geographic aspects of the site, and a table of key information -->

[[File: chimpanzees loango trail.png | 500px | thumb| right | © Lara Southern]]  

<!--[[File: chimpanzees loango trail.png | 500px | thumb| right | © Lara Southern]]

[[File: chimpanzees loango coast.jpg | 500px | thumb| right | © Lara Southern]]  

Loango National Park is located in the south west of Gabon and borders the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of a mosaic of different habitat types varying from marine, coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps, coastal forest, secondary and primary forest and open savannah. It is ecologically distinct from other long-term chimpanzee sites thereby providing the rare opportunity to enable unique insights into chimpanzees’ behavioral plasticity (REF). In addition to central chimpanzees, the national park is also home to western low-land gorillas (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla''), forest buffaloes (''Syncerus caffer''), forest elephants (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), as well as several resident and migratory bird species, such as rosy bee-eaters (''Merops malimbicus'') (REF).

Loango National Park is located in the south west of Gabon and borders the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of a mosaic of different habitat types varying from marine, coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps, coastal forest, secondary and primary forest and open savannah. It is ecologically distinct from other long-term chimpanzee sites thereby providing the rare opportunity to enable unique insights into chimpanzees’ behavioral plasticity (REF). In addition to central chimpanzees, the national park is also home to western low-land gorillas (''Gorilla gorilla gorilla''), forest buffaloes (''Syncerus caffer''), forest elephants (''Loxodonta cyclotis''), as well as several resident and migratory bird species, such as rosy bee-eaters (''Merops malimbicus'') (REF).

= Ape status = <!--An overview of ape population status (population sizes, trends, etc.), followed by a table of specific surveys and results -->

= Ape status = <!--An overview of ape population status (population sizes, trends, etc.), followed by a table of specific surveys and results -->

 

To date there has only been one survey conducted regarding chimpanzee abundance in Loango National park. This was done through the collection of wild chimpanzee fecal samples for genetic capture-recapture analyses over a four-year period (2005-2008) in a 132 km2 area of the National Park (Arandjelovic et al. 2011).  

To date there has only been one survey conducted regarding chimpanzee abundance in Loango National park. This was done through the collection of wild chimpanzee fecal samples for genetic capture-recapture analyses over a four-year period (2005-2008) in a 132 km2 area of the National Park (Arandjelovic et al. 2011).