Loango National Park

Central Africa > Gabon > Loango National Park

Summary

© Lara Southern

• Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Loango National Park.
• The population sizes are unknown.
• The population trends are unknown.
• The site has a total size of 1,550 km².
• Key threats to great apes include poaching, disturbance due to tourism and human presence and oil exploration.
• Conservation activities have focused on anti-poaching patrols and involving local communities in research activities.

Site characteristics

© 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).

Table 1. Basic site information for Loango National Park

Area	1,550 km²
Coordinates	-2.118840 S, 9.605397 E
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical mangrove vegetation above high tide level, subtropical/tropical swamp, coastal saline lagoons/marine lakes

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

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).

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Loango National Park

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	2005-2008	283 (208 – 316)	2.14 (1.57 – 2.39)		132 sq.km	Capture-recapture method	Arandjelovic et al. 2011

Threats

© Lara Southern

Gabon boasts an important store of natural resources, the most prominent being oil. In 2006 and 2007 a petroleum company conducted seismic exploration inside Loango National Park (Rabanal et al. 2010). It has been shown that the most common behavioral change exhibited by wildlife to intense human-produced noise is active avoidance. The study modeled seismic impact over different spatial scales (small, intermediate and large) and found that apes avoided seismic activity on the intermediate and small scales (REF). Additionally, hunting, although relatively non-existent around the study site, may pose a threat to ape populations in other areas of the park such as the forest inlets boarding the lagoon (REF). Lastly, health risks related to human-chimpanzee disease transmission may be increased due to increased human presence in the park and the potential for new ecotourism ventures (REF).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Loango National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Absent
2. Agriculture & aquaculture		Absent
3. Energy production & mining	3.1 Oil & gas drilling	Medium		Effect of seismic oil exploration on large mammal distribution (Rabanal et al. 2010)	2006-2007
4. Transportation & service corridors		Absent
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Low		Signs of poacher trails in the far North of the territory (REF).	Ongoing (2021)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	6.1 Recreational activities	Low		Loango National park is open to tourism and therefore there is the possibility of exposure of apes to humans outside of the research area. Additionally, vehicles for safari outings may pose a disturbance to ape populations along these routes.	Ongoing (2021)
	6.3 Work & other activities	Low		The very presence of the research camp itself poses a disturbance to great apes and territory avoidance may take place.	Ongoing (2021)
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

© Lara Southern

In 2005 the first research camp was set up as a Pan African Programme (PanAf) study site, and this later became the Ozouga camp and base of the Loango Chimpanzee Project. The establishment of this site ensures the continued presence of researchers in the study area, which, at other sites, has been shown to have a positive influence on local chimpanzee densities (Campbell et al. 2011). There is a strong connection and collaboration between the local people, primarily of the Miene (Myene) ethnicity, and the research site. At present, five permanent eco-guides native to the area are employed. Their direct involvement at this research site make them important stakeholders for the future of the park and the livelihood of those living around it. Additionally, educational programs and activities have been conducted in the village that borders the Northern edge of the park; these were performed in partnership with WCS (Southern pers. comm.).

Table 4. Conservation activities in Loango National Park

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	5.6. Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	Anti-poaching patrols are conducted regularly by the ANPN.	Ongoing (2021)
6. Human intrusion & disturbance	Not reported
7. Natural system modifications	Not reported
8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases	8.3. Control habitat-altering mammals (e.g. elephants) through exclusion (e.g. fences) or translocation	An electric fence was built around the village that borders the Northern zone of the park. This was primarily put in place to deter forest elephants from crop raiding (REF)	2017-2018
9. Pollution	Not reported
10. Education & Awareness	10.2. Involve local community in primate research and conservation management	The Loango Chimpanzee project has recruited members of the local community as guides who are trained to collect data since 2006.	Ongoing (2021)
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 Loango National Park

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Loango National Park

Behavior	Source
Ant eating without tools	SOURCE
Bathing	SOURCE
Branch dragging	SOURCE
Branch shaking	SOURCE
Buttress beating	SOURCE
Fruit cleaning	SOURCE
Honey eating	SOURCE
Honey eating with tools	Estienne et al. 2015, 2017, 2019
Honey extraction with tools	Estienne et al. 2015, 2017, 2019; Boesch et al. 2009
Honey extraction without tools	Estienne et al. 2015, 2017, 2019
Hunting and meat eating	Pika et al. 2019
Leaf cushion	SOURCE
Leaf sponging for drinking water	SOURCE
Lethal intragroup aggression	Martinez-inigo et al. (in press)
Termite eating without tools	SOURCE

External links

The Loango Chimpanzee Project in Gabon

Relevant datasets

A.P.E.S Portal

References

Arandjelovic, M., Head, J., Rabanal, L. I., Schubert, G., Mettke, E., Boesch, C., Robbins, M. M., & Vigilant, L. (2011). Non-Invasive genetic monitoring of wild central chimpanzees. PLoS ONE,6(3): e14761.
Boesch, C., Head, J., & Robbins, M. M. (2009). Complex tool sets for honey extraction among chimpanzees in Loango National Park, Gabon. Journal of Human Evolution, 56(6), 560-569.
Estienne, V. L., Robira, B., Mundry, R., Deschner, T., & Boesch, C. (2019). Acquisition of a complex extractive technique by the immature chimpanzees of Loango National Park, Gabon. Animal Behaviour, 147, 61-76.
Estienne, V., Mundry, R., Kuehl, H.S., Boesch, C. (2017). Exploitation of underground bee nests by three sympatric consumers in Loango National Park, Gabon. Biotropica, 49(1), 101-109.
Estienne V, Stephens C, Boesch C. (2017). Extraction of honey from underground bee nests by central African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) in Loango National Park, Gabon: Techniques and individual differences. Am J Primatol, 79(1).
Estienne, V. L. (2017). Tool-use technique for the extraction of underground honey by central African chimpanzees in Loango National Park, Gabon. PhD Thesis, Universität, Leipzig.
Estienne, V., & Boesch, C. (2015). Underground honey extraction by chimpanzees, honey badgers and forest elephants in Loango National Park, Gabon. Folia Primatologica, 86(4), 276-277.
Martinez-inigo, L., Baas, P., Klein, H., Pika, S., Deschner T. (in press). Intercommunity interactions and killings in central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) from Loango National Park, Gabon. Primates.
Rabanal, L. I., Kuehl, H., Mundry, R., Robbins, M. M., & Boesch, C. (2010). Oil prospecting and its impact on large rainforest mammals in Loango National Park, Gabon. Biological Conservation, 143(4), 1017-1024.
Pika, S., Klein, H., Bunel, S., Baas, P., Théleste, E., & Deschner, T. (2019). Wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) exploit tortoises (Kinixys erosa) via percussive technology. Scientific Reports, 9(1).

Page completed by: Lara Southern Date: 13/10/2021