Pygmy Chimpanzees Vanishing from Congo Stronghold

GLAND, Switzerland, December 9, 2004 (ENS) - Seventy-five years after the pygmy chimpanze, or bonobo, was first described by scientists, new research shows that so many of these animals have been hunted that the survival of the species is at risk. Early results of the first systematic bonobo survey in a Congolese park created to conserve the species were released today. Researchers found no bonobos and few nests.

Bonobos are often cited as one of the closest relatives to human beings. The genetic code in the DNA of chimpanzees and bonobos is closer to that of humans than to that of gorillas.

The bonobo is found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the central Congo Basin, south of the Congo River, in a mix of forest, swamp, and grassland habitats.

Bonobos live in widely scattered areas between the Zaïre River, the Lomami River, the Kasai/Sankuru Rivers, and the Lake Tumba/Lac Ndombe region. (Photo © WWF-Canon/Russell A. Mittermeier)

The survey was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 36,000 square kilometer Salonga National Park, a protected area the size of Holland.

The largest tropical forest national park in the world, Salonga was created in 1970, and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.

The park's remote location and dense forest habitat, plus the insecurity caused by the recent civil war, have made it been difficult for researchers and park authorities to conduct surveys and count bonobos. Population estimates have been based on extrapolations from limited data sets, resulting in wide variation in numbers.

The first data in from about a third of the park shows evidence of very few bonobos living there. "No bonobos were encountered, and sightings of nests and dung were only made in a quarter of the area surveyed, at lower densities than previously measured," the WWF said today.

What the researchers did find was evidence of human encroachment into the park and of poaching, possibly by bushmeat hunters.

"These initial results concern us greatly," said Dr. Peter Stephenson, WWF's African Great Apes Programme Coordinator. "Salonga National Park was created in 1970 specifically to safeguard the species and potentially represents the largest, undisturbed and protected habitat for the bonobo. If things are this bad here, we can assume that across the Congo, bonobos are in crisis."

Salonga National Park is accessible only by water. (Photo courtesy UNESCO)

It was conducted as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) programme for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE).

As with the bonobo estimates, the survey recorded lower elephant numbers than expected.

During the long running civil war in DRC, it became almost impossible for ICCN to protect the country's national parks. Increased poaching by armed militias and local people was inevitable with serious consequences for the bonobos of Salonga as well as the local people.

WWF has now launched a new project to monitor and protect surviving bonobo populations in the northern sector of Salonga National Park. It is providing park staff and researchers with training and equipment as well as supporting anti-poaching operations on foot and by boat to stop the illegal killing of the rare apes.

The project is being implemented by ICCN and the Zoological Society of Milwaukee in partnership with WWF's Salonga Landscape Programme.

“The war has had terrible consequences for the people and wildlife of the Congo Basin," said Lisa Steel, co-ordinator of WWF's Salonga Landscape Programme. "However, now, as the Democratic Republic of Congo rebuilds socially and economically, the opportunity is there to make sure that forest conservation benefits not only wildlife but also local people."

WWF hopes to be able to establish a clearer picture of how many bonobos are left in the wild once all of the results of the survey have been compiled and analyzed early next year.

Ape heads and hands for sale at a Congolese fetish market (Photo © WWF-Canon/Martin Harvey)

Although often equal in height to their close relatives the chimpanzees, bonobo’s limbs are more slender, they have smaller, more rounded skulls, and they have a black face with reddish lips. They also have a distinctive natural hair style, with their long hair parted exactly in the middle.

In 1929, E. Schwartz described the bonobo in German in a scientific journal for the first time. His description was based on a small sample of skull found in a Belgian museum - an old specimen brought back from Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Schwartz proposed it as a subspecies of chimpanzee.

Four years later another scientist, H.J. Coolidge, published a more extensive analysis based on more information, and he concluded that it differed so much from other chimpanzees that it merited being classified as a separate species — Pan paniscus - the scientific name still used today.

The great apes of Africa face extinction in the next few decades if more is not done to conserve them, WWF warns. All four species - the chimpanzee, bonobo, western gorilla and eastern gorilla - are threatened by hunting, habitat loss, diseases such as ebola, and conflict with people.

WWF says their survival depends on immediate action to develop the capacity of African countries for conservation, improve the effectiveness of protected areas, stop the illegal trade in ape products, and increase people's support for ape conservation.