Oba Hills Forest Reserve

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Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) have been present in Oba Hills Forest Reserve.
• Chimpanzees are extinct or nearly extinct at the site.
• The population trend is unknown.
• The site has a total size of 68 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are logging, farming, hunting, and fires.
• Conservation activities are not reported.

Site characteristics

Located in the south-western state of Osun, in Nigeria, the site encompasses three hills and a valley in between.

Table 1. Basic site information for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Species	'Pan troglodytes ellioti
Area	68 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 7.783 , Lon: 4.117
Type of site	Protected area (Forest Reserve)
Habitat types	Agricultural land, Subtropical/tropical heavily degraded forest, Savanna, Shrubland, Subtropical/tropical swamp forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Based on a survey in 2006, chimpanzees are likely to be extinct or nearly extinct in the area (Greengrass 2006). Only a chimpanzee-like vocalization was heard during the survey (Greengrass 2009). The last time local people reported seeing chimpanzees was in 2002 (Greengrass 2006), and in 1999 a dead chimpanzee was offered for sale in a nearby market (Oates et al. 2003 in Kormos et al. 2003).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2006		0			Oba Hills Forest Reserve	Interviews, Reconnaissance walk		Greengrass 2006

Threats

Taungya farming has spread throughout the bottom of the hills, and also halfway up the slopes (Greengrass 2006). In 2006, the hills were also being deforested and logged; scrubby vegetation growing back on the hills was frequently burnt, thus preventing regeneration (Greengrass 2006). In the western part of Oba Hills, there was once a large teak plantation, covering 12% of the total area, but since the plantation has been over-exploited, only coppices remain (Greengrass 2006).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
9 Pollution		Absent
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High (more than 70% of population affected)	All the land surrounding the three hills is subject to taungya farming, and the hills are being deforested; barely any forest is left (Greengrass 2006).	Ongoing (2006)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	The chimpanzee population has been hunted likely to the point of extirpation; hunting of other species (e.g., duikers) continues (Greengrass 2006, Wahab 2016).	Ongoing (2016)
7 Natural system modifications	7.1 Fire & fire suppression	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Repeated anthropogenic bush fires in the core of the reserve (Wahab 2016).	Ongoing (2016)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.2 Wood & pulp plantations	Present (unknown severity)		Unknown
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
3 Energy production & mining		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat	The forest reserve was established in 1955 (Wahab 2016).		Since 1955

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
2 Resources and capacity	2.3 General lack of funding	Greengrass 2006
4 Institutional support	4.1 Lack of law enforcement	Greengrass 2006
1 Site management	1.3 Corruption	Greengrass 2006

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Oba Hills Forest Reserve

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Greengrass, E.J. (2006). A survey of chimpanzees in south-west Nigeria. Report to the NCF-WCS Biodiversity Research Programme.

Greengrass, E.J. (2009). Chimpanzees are close to extinction in Southwest Nigeria. Primate Conservation 24(1), 77-83. doi: 10.1896/052.024.0105

Kormos, R., Boesch, C., Bakarr, M.I., Butynaki, T.M. (2003) West African Chimpanzees: Status survey and conservation action plan. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

Wahab, M.K.A. (2016). Wildlife Environmental Conservation: A Case Study of Oba Hill Forest Reserve. J Ecosys Ecograph, 6(214). doi: 10.4172/2157-7625.1000214

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