Summary

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Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) may be present in Kakum National Park.
No chimpanzees were recorded in the last survey.
The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
The site has a total size of 375 km².
Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting and logging.
Conservation activities are not documented.

Site characteristics

Kakum National Park is located in southern Ghana. The terrain is generally flat, with a few hills in the southwestern part of the park, rising up to 250 m above sea level (Gatti 2009). The area was demarcated as a forest reserve in the 1930s, thereby protecting the watersheds of Kakum river and other rivers that supply water to Caper Coast and nearby areas (Gatti 2009). The Kakum Conservation Area was legally gazetted in 1992, consisting of Kakum National Park and Assin Attandanso Forest Reserve. It falls under the administrative jurisdiction of the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission (Gatti 2009).

Table 1. Basic site information for Kakum National Park

Species	'Pan troglodytes verus
Area	375 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 5.485273 , Lon: -1.344909
Type of site	Protected area (National Park)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical dry forest, Subtropical/tropical moist lowland forest
Type of governance

IUCN habitat categories Site designations

Ape status

A rapid survey was conducted at the site in 2009; except for calls of a group of Lowe's Mona monkeys, Cercopithecus lowei, no other primate species were detected at the site (Gatti 2009).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Kakum National Park

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 verus	2009		0			Kakum National Park	Reconnaissance walk		Gatti 2009	survey effort: 33.38 km

Threats

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Kakum National Park

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
10 Geological events		Absent
12 Other threat		Absent
5 Biological resource use	5.3 Logging & wood harvesting	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Timber exploitation, which came to a stop with the change in management status, but overall the forest is heavily disturbed (Gatti 2009).	1936-1989
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	Medium (30-70% of population affected)	Relative to other sites in southwestern Ghana, hunting pressure is lower, likely due to the presence of wildlife guards (Gatti 2009).	Ongoing (2009)
1 Residential & commercial development		Unknown
2 Agriculture & aquaculture		Unknown
3 Energy production & mining		Unknown
4 Transportation & service corridors		Unknown
6 Human intrusions & disturbance		Unknown
7 Natural system modifications		Unknown
8 Invasive & other problematic species, genes & diseases		Unknown
9 Pollution		Unknown
11 Climate change & severe weather		Unknown

IUCN Threats list

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Kakum National Park

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Kakum National Park

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

Research activities

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Kakum National Park

Behavior	Source
Not reported

Exposure to climate change impacts

External links

Kakum National Park - nationalparks.org

Relevant datasets

References

Gatti, S. (2009). Mammal surveys and capacity building for the Wildlife Wood Project - Ghana. Unpublished report to the WWP-Ghana.

Page created by: A.P.E.S. Wiki team Date: NA

Kakum National Park

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