Kimbi Fungom National Park

Central Africa > Cameroon > Kimbi Fungom National Park

Summary

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• Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes ellioti) are present in Kimbi Fungom National Park.
• The population size is unknown.
• The population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 953.8 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, logging and habitat fragmentation and degradation due to agriculture.
• Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

The Kimbi-Fungom National Park was created in 2015. It is located in northwestern Cameroon, bordering Nigeria to the North. With the establishment of the park, two reserves were merged; the Fungom Forest Reserve, established in 1936, and the Kimbi Game Reserve,established in 1964. The main rivers flowing through the site are the rivers Ivin, Menchum, and Kimbi (Chuo & Tsi 2017). Six primate species have been found to inhabit the site: Olive baboons (Papio anubis), patas monkey (Erythrocebus patas), vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), white nosed monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) and Mona monkeys (Cercopithecus mona) and the Nigeria- Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti) (Atembeh 2020). The park is also home to giant ground pangolins (Smutsia gigantea), white-bellied tree pangolins (Phataginus tricuspis) and black-bellied tree pangolins (Phataginus tetradactyla) (Angwafo et al. 2019).

Table 1. Basic site information for Kimbi Fungom National Park

Area	953.8 km²
Coordinates	6.782047, 10.111895
Designation	National Park
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical/tropical moist montane forest, savanna, grassland, subtropical/tropical swamp forest

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

Table 2. Ape population estimates in Kimbi Fungom 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 ellioti	2015- 2016			1.09	Kimbi Fungom National Park	Index survey (reconnaissance walk)	Chuo et al. 2017b	Survey effort 44 km. No direct observation of chimpanzees, only indirect
Pan troglodytes ellioti	2017			0.06	Kimbi Fungom National Park	Line transects (Distance)	Zeh, Fuashi & Maurice 2019	Survey effort 274 km

Threats

Hunting is the main threat to chimpanzees and other wildlife in the park. A survey of 22 villages in close proximity to the park (288 interviews in total) revealed that most of the respondents, 94%, 72% and 98%, reported that chimpanzee’s body parts/meats are used for medicinal value, rituals and as food in special occasion respectively (Chuo & Tsi 2017). Furthermore, the impacts of agriculture also represent a threat to wildlife; farmland and fallow land increased from 9467.87ha (9.75%) in 1987 to 15096ha (15.8%) in 2017 (Zeh, Fuashi & Maurice 2019).

Table 3. Threats to apes in Kimbi Fungom National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Quantified severity	Description	Year of threat
1. Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2. Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High	Farmland and fallow land increased from 9467.87ha (9.75%) in 1987 to 15096ha (15.8%) in 2017	Habitat fragmentation and degradation due to expansion of land for agriculture (Zeh, Fuashi & Maurice 2019).	Ongoing (2019)
3. Energy production & mining		Unknown
4. Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
5. Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High		Chimpanzees are hunted for bushmeat consumption, rituals and medicinal purposes, and for the illegal pet trade (Chuo & Tsi 2017).	Ongoing (2017)
	5.2 Gathering terrestrial plants	High		Exploitation of forest and non-timber products (Chuo et al. 2017b).	Ongoing (2017)
	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High		Timber harvesting (Chuo et al. 2017b).	Ongoing (2017)
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

Table 4. Conservation activities in Kimbi Fungom 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

Conservation activities list (Junker et al. 2017)

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Kimbi Fungom National Park

Challenge	Source
Not reported

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 6. Ape behaviors reported for Kimbi Fungom National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

References

Angwafo, T. E., Kaimo, N. K., Chuo, M. D., & Berinyuy, W. H. (2019). Abundance and distribution of pangolins (Manis spp.) in the kimbi-fungom national park, North West Region, Cameroon. J Entomol Zool Stud, 7(6), 71-78.
Atembeh, L. (2020). Primates of the Kimbi-Fungom National Park Threatened! Retrieved February 24, 2023 from Green Vision. https://www.greenvision.news/primates-of-the-kimbi-fungom-national-park-threatened/ Chuo, M. D., & Tsi, E. A. (2017a). Chimpanzee in ethno-primatological practices and it implications for biodiversity conservation: Kimbi-fungom national park and kom-wum forest reserve, Cameroon. American Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 5(5), 157-172. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaf.20170505.14
Chuo, M. D., Angwafo, T. E., Chefor, F., & Fru, B. S. (2017b). Estimation of chimpanzee’s (Pan troglodytes ellioti) abundance in the Kimbi-Fungum National Park and Kom-Wum Forest Reserve, Nw, Cameroon. Journal of Biodiversity Management and Forestry, 6(3), 20-30. DOI: 10.4172/2327-4417.1000185
Zeh, A. F., Fuashi, N. A., & Maurice, M. E. (2019). Impact of Land Use Changes on Wildlife Population in The Kimbi-Fungom National Park, North West Region, Cameroon. Int. J. Sci. Res. Publ., 9(1), 498-525. 24 0.09 Pongidae Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ellioti 16 0.06 Cercopithecid

Page completed by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: 24/02/2023