Minkébé National Park
Summary
- Central chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) & western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are present in Minkébé National Park.
- The population sizes are unknown.
- The population trends are unknown.
- The site has a total size of 7,535 km².
- Key threats to great apes are hunting, mining, logging, and diseases, specifically Ebola Virus Disease.
- Conservation activities are not documented.
Site characteristics
Minkébé National Park is situated in northeast Gabon, bordering Cameroon to the north and Republic of Congo to the east. The forest in Minkébé is extremely rich in bird biodiversity, and has been designated an Important Bird Area (BirdLife International 2020). Minkébé is the name of an ancient village and colonial post that was built on a ridge and abandoned in the 1930s (BirdLife International 2020). The site forms part of the Tri-National Dja-Odzala-Minkébé (TRIDOM) transboundary conservation landscape, spread across Gabon, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo (WWF).
Table 1. Basic site information for Minkébé National Park
| Area | 7,535 km² |
| Coordinates | 1.813136 N, 12.569964 E |
| Designation | National Park |
| Habitat types | Subtropical/tropical swamp forest, subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical dry forest, permanent rivers/streams/creeks (includes waterfalls) |
Ape status
Table 2. Ape population estimates in Minkébé 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorilla gorilla gorilla & Pan troglodytes troglodytes | 2012 | 0.3 (1.2-12) | Minkébé National Park | Line transects (Distance) | ANPN 2013 |
Threats
Poaching is a major threat, not just to great apes- between 2004 and 2014, more than 25,000 forest elephants were killed for their ivory in Minkébé, representing a 78-81% population decline (Poulsen et al. 2017). Gold mining has also been a major threat. In 2011, the Gabonese National Parks Agency (Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux / ANPN) and the Gabonese military expelled over 6,000 gold miners; illegal mining camps had grown exponentially as a result of soaring gold prices over the previous 2-3 years. Severe elephant poaching and other illegal activities were linked to these camps (ANPN 2013).
Table 3. Threats to apes in Minkébé National Park
| Category | Specific threats | Threat level | Quantified severity | Description | Year of threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Residential & commercial development | Unknown | ||||
| 2. Agriculture & aquaculture | Unknown | ||||
| 3. Energy production & mining | 3.2 Mining & quarrying | High | In 2011, about 6,000 gold miners were removed from the park (WCS-WWF 2013). | Gold extraction and presence of several illegal gold camps, in the park and in its buffer zone (BirdLife International 2020; ANPN 2013). | Ongoing (2020) |
| 4. Transportation & service corridors | Unknown | ||||
| 5. Biological resource use | 5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals | High | Commercial hunting for local bushmeat trade (BirdLife International 2020). Hunting camps and huntings signs (gun shots, trails, elephant carcasses) present at the park during a 2012 survey (ANPN 2013). | Ongoing (2020) | |
| 5.3 Logging & wood harvesting | Present, but threat severity is unknown | Logging (BirdLife International 2020). | Ongoing (2020) | ||
| 6. Human intrusion & disturbance | Unknown | ||||
| 7. Natural system modifications | Unknown | ||||
| 8. Invasive & other problematic species, genes, diseases | 8.5 Viral/prion-induced diseases | High | Extremely low densities of gorillas and chimpanzees were found between 1998-2000, compared to data collected before 1994. The decline resulted from Ebola outbreaks in 1994 and 1996 in the area (Huijbregts et al. 2003; Walsh et al. 2003). | Ongoing | |
| 9. Pollution | Unknown | ||||
| 10. Geological Events | Absent | ||||
| 11. Climate change & severe weather | Unknown | ||||
| 12. Other options | Absent |
Conservation activities
Table 4. Conservation activities in Minkébé 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 | 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 |
Challenges
Table 5. Challenges reported for Minkébé National Park
| Challenge | Source |
|---|---|
| Not reported |
Research activities
Documented behaviours
Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Minkébé National Park
| Behavior | Source |
|---|---|
| Not reported |
External links
Relevant datasets
References
BirdLife International. (2020) .Important Bird Areas factsheet: Minkébé Forest Reserve. Retrieved from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/11/2020.
Huijbregts, B., De Wachter, P., Obiang, L., & Akou, M. (2003). Ebola and the decline of gorilla Gorilla gorilla and chimpanzee Pan troglodytes populations in Minkebe Forest, north-eastern Gabon. Oryx, 37(4), 437-443. doi:10.1017/S0030605303000802
Walsh, P., Abernethy, K., Bermejo, M. et al. (2003). Catastrophic ape decline in western equatorial Africa. Nature 422, 611–614. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01566
ANPN. (2013). Wildlife surveying in Minkebe National Park, 2012 – WCS-WWF collaboration. Online: https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/Preliminary_Results_of_Minkebe_Pilot_Study_070213.pdf
Poulsen, J. R., Koerner, S. E., Moore, S., Medjibe, V. P., Blake, S., Clark, C. J., Akou, M. E., Fay, M., Meier, A., Okouyi, J., Rosin, C., & White, L. J. T. (2017). Poaching empties critical Central African wilderness of forest elephants. Current Biology, 27(4), R134-R135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.01.023
Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date:29/12/2020