Wonga-Wongué

Central Africa > Gabon > Wonga-Wongué

Summary

• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Wonga-Wongué.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The great ape population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 3,965.8 km².
• Key threats are not reported.
• Conservation activities are not reported.

Site characteristics

Wonga-Wongué is located in western Gabon, on the Atlantic coast. Habitats vary from mangrove wetlands and beaches to open grasslands and tropical forest (Mills et al. 2018). The site comprises a wildlife reserve and two hunting concessions (Ramsar 2016). In addition to chimpanzees and gorillas, other wildlife species found at the site include elephants, buffalos, hippos, and a wide diversity of waterbirds, predominantly Pelecanus onocrotalus (Ramsar 2016). The site was designated as a Ramsar Site for its international importance as a wetland in 1986.

Table 1. Basic site information for Wonga-Wongué

Area	3,965.816 km²
Coordinates	-0.541739 S, 9.460716 E
Designation	Presidential Reserve
Habitat types	Wetlands (inland) – Bogs, marshes, swamps, fens, peatlands, Subtropical/tropical mangrove vegetation above high tide level, Subtropical/tropical moist lowland, Subtropical/tropical seasonally wet/flooded, Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, etc.

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Wonga-Wongué

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
Pan troglodytes troglodytes & Gorilla gorilla gorilla

Threats

Utilization of the land is forbidden in the area designated as presidential reserve; in the surrounding areas logging occurs, but this does not constitute a big threat yet (Ramsar 2016). Tourism also occurs in the surroundings, with the main activities consisting of wildlife viewing and beach recreation (Ramsar 2016). Human population density is relatively low (0.2 people km-2), and 59 villages are located within 10 km of the reserve’s southwest and southeast borders (Mills et al. 2018). The reserve seems to be well protected; e.g., no elephants were poached within the site from 2014 to 2016 (Mills et al. 2018).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Wonga-Wongué

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use		Unknown
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

Grassland covers 15% of the reserve (Mills et al. 2018). The Gabon Parks Agency (ANPN) prescribed burns are conducted annually during the long-dry season to maintain the grasslands, which would otherwise be overtaken by forest encroachment (Mills et al. 2018).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Wonga-Wongué

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 Wonga-Wongué

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Wonga-Wongué

Behavior	Source
Not reported

External links

Ramsar

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Mills, E. C., Poulsen, J. R., Fay, J. M., Morkel, P., Clark, C. J., Meier, A., ... & White, L. J. (2018). Forest elephant movement and habitat use in a tropical forest-grassland mosaic in Gabon. PloS one, 13(7), e0199387.

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 10/01/2022