Western chimpanzee

Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are a subspecies of chimpanzees that occur in eight West African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Republic of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone. They are thought to be extirpated from Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Togo (Ginn et al. 2013, Campbell and Houngbedji 2015, Humle et al. 2016).

Western chimpanzees occur in a diversity of habitats from rainforests to savanna-dominated areas, and their behavioural flexibility enables them to also survive in agricultural areas with remnants of forests (Boesch & Boesch-Achermann 2000, Hockings et al. 2015, Pruetz & Bertolani 2009).

Chimpanzees feed mainly on fruits and other parts of plants such as leaves, stems and flowers. Across different sites chimpanzees have been observed to use tools to access certain foods such as cracking nuts (e.g., Bossou, Taï National Park), fishing for algae (e.g., Moyen-Bafing National Park), extracting honey (e.g., Boé Sector, or hunting (e.g., Fongoli).

Western chimpanzees face different threats, especially habitat destruction, and poaching. But threats differ between sites, also relevant are fires, or diseases

Western chimpanzee populations have declined by 80% between 1990 to 2014 (Kühl et al. 2017) and based on range-wide species distribution modelling it has been estimated that approximately 52,800 individuals remain (Heinicke et al. 2019). Consequently, this subspecies was uplisted to Critically Endangered during the most recent IUCN Red List assessment (Humle et al. 2016).

Conservation activities for western chimpanzees typically include ....

In 2020, the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group published a new conservation action plan that comprehensively reviewed the status, threats and priority conservation strategies and actions for western chimpanzees [XXXXX add link once available].

Sites included in A.P.E.S. Wiki

Sites covered by A.P.E.S. Wiki for western chimpanzees © A.P.E.S. Wiki Team

Country	Site
Burkina Faso	1 Arly National Park
Côte d’Ivoire	2 Azagny National Park	3 Cavally Classified Forest	4 Comoé National Park	5 Goin-Débé Classified Forest	6 Marahoué National Park
	7 Taï National Park
Ghana	8 Bia National Park	9 Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve
Republic of Guinea	10 Badiar National Park	11 Bossou	12 Diécké Classified Forest	13 Gadha Woundou Classified Forest	14 Haut Niger National Park
	15 Kankan Faunal Reserve	16 Koumbia	17 Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve	18 Moyen-Bafing National Park (in process of creation, encompasses Classified Forests of Bakoum, Bakoun, Bani, Boula, Dar-Es-Salam, Dokoro, Sobory)	19 Nialama Classified Forest
	20 Ouré-Kaba (with Pinselli and Soyah Classified Forests)	21 Pic de Fon Classified Forest	22 Sangaredi	23 Seringbara	24 Sobeya
	25 Ziama Biosphere Reserve
Guinea-Bissau	26 Boé Sector (including parts of Boé National Park)	27 Cantanhez National Park	28 Lagoas de Cufada Natural Park
Liberia	29 Bong Mountain Proposed Protected Area	30 Cestos-Senkwehn Proposed Protected Area	31 Corridor linking Sapo National Park (SNP) and Grebo-Krahn National Park (GKNP)	32 East Nimba Nature Reserve	33 Foya Proposed Protected Area
	34 Gbi Proposed Protected Area	35 Gola Forest National Park	36 Grand Kru-River Gee Proposed Protected Area	37 Grebo-Krahn National Park	38 Kpo Mountains Proposed Protected Area
	39 Krahn-Bassa Proposed Protected Area	40 Lake Piso Multiple Sustainable Use Reserve	41 Margibi Mangrove Proposed Protected Area	42 Sapo National Park	43 West Nimba Community Forest
	44 Wologizi	45 Wonegizi Proposed Protected Area	46 Zwedru Proposed Protected Area
Mali	47 Bafing
Senegal	48 Dindefelo	49 Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project	50 Niokolo-Koba National Park
Sierra Leone	51 Bumbuna Dam Catchment Area	52 Gola Rainforest National Park	53 Kambui Hills Forest Reserve	54 Kangari Hills Non-Hunting Forest Reserve	55 Loma Mountains National Park
	56 Outamba-Kilimi National Park	57 Tingi Hills Non-hunting Forest Reserve	58 Tiwai Island	59 Western Area Peninsula National Park

References

Campbell G and Houngbedji M. 2015. Conservation status of the West African chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) in Togo and Benin. Arlington, VA: Primate Action Fund. Unpublished report.
Ginn LP et al 2013. Strong evidence that the West African chimpanzee is extirpated from Burkina Faso. Oryx 47, 325–6.
Heinicke S et al 2019. Advancing conservation planning for western chimpanzees using IUCN SSC A.P.E.S.–the case of a taxon-specific database. Environmental Research Letters 14: 064001.
Hockings KJ et al 2015. Apes in the Anthropocene: flexibility and survival. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 30, 215–222.
Humle T et al 2016. Pan Troglodytes ssp. verus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. Online: iucnredlist.org
Kühl HS et al 2017. The Critically Endangered western chimpanzee declines by 80%. American Journal of Primatology. 79 e22681
IUCN. 2020. Western Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus): Conservation Action Plan 2020–2030. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group.
Pruetz, J and Bertolani P 2009. Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) behavioral responses to stresses associated with living in a savannahmosaic environment: Implications for hominin adaptations to open habitats. PaleoAnthropology 2009, 252–262.