Anthrax: A hidden threat to wildlife in the tropics

Date: August 2, 2017

Source: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Summary:

Anthrax, a disease so far not associated with tropical rain forests, is common in the Ivory Coast's Taï National Park and is posing a serious threat to wildlife there. The bacterium could soon even cause the extinction of local chimpanzee populations.

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Ivory Coast jail sentences for chimpanzee traffickers

David Shukman Science editor

Two men have been sentenced to six months in prison in the first case of wildlife trafficking brought in Ivory Coast.

An Ivorian government lawyer said the judgement "sends a signal" that animal trafficking is being taken seriously.

The men were arrested while trying to sell an infant chimp to a BBC reporter posing as the representative of a wealthy Asian buyer.

Chimpanzees are in such sharp decline they are listed as endangered.

Those in West Africa are judged to be critically endangered.

Since Ibrahima and Mohamed Traore have remained in prison since their detention last December, they are deemed to have already served their sentences and are therefore free. 

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Primate tool-use: Chimpanzees make drinking sticks

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

10 January 2017

Researchers have used camera traps to film tool-use that is unique to chimpanzees in Ivory Coast. 

The footage revealed that the clever primates habitually make special water-dipping sticks - chewing the end of the stick to turn it into a soft, water-absorbing brush. 

Primate researchers examined the "dipping sticks" and concluded they were made specifically for drinking. 

Lead researcher Juan Lapuente, from the Comoe Chimpanzee Conservation Project, in Ivory Coast, explained that using similar brush-tipped sticks to dip into bees' nests for honey was common in chimpanzee populations across Africa. 

"But the use of brush-tipped sticks to dip for water is completely new and had never been described before," he told BBC News. 

"These chimps use especially long brush tips that they make specifically for water - much longer than those used for honey."

The researchers tested the chimps' drinking sticks in an "absorption experiment", which showed that the particularly long brush-tips provided an advantage. 

"The longer the brush, the more water they collect," said Mr Lapuente. 

"This technology allows Comoe chimpanzees to obtain water from extremely narrow and deep tree holes that only they - and no other animal - can exploit, which [gives] them a superb adaptive advantage to survive in this dry and unpredictable environment."

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World's loneliest chimp' hugs conservation worker after spending years in isolation

Ponso's mate and their young died in 2013, and he has been alone in an island off the Ivory Coast ever since

By Helena Horton

2:10PM GMT 18 Feb 2016

Ponso the chimp spent nearly three years in isolation on an island with no other chimpanzees after the death of his mate and their young in 2013.

For years, he only had occasional contact from a nearby villager named Germain, who visited sometimes to bring bananas and bread - the chimp's only source of food on the tiny island

He was cheered up this month when he made a new friend - Estelle Raballand.

Ms. Raballand is the Managing Director at the Centre de Conservation pour Chimpanzes.

When she met the primate, he responded by grinning from ear-to-ear and giving her a hug - evidently overjoyed at having someone new to spend time with.

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Ivory Coast primates being wiped out because of world demand for chocolate

Cocoa plantations do not provide suitable habitat for primates

Researchers from Ohio State University have discovered that much of the protected land in the country's national parks and forest reserves in the Ivory Coast have been turned into illegal cocoa farms.

Between 2010 and 2013 the researchers surveyed 23 protected areas, they say in a recently published report, and found that about three-quarters of the land had been turned over to cocoa production.

The Ivory Coast is the world's largest producer of cocoa beans, the main ingredient in chocolate, which represents more than one-third of the available supply.

There is a growing worldwide demand for chocolate and Ivory Coast produced a record 1.7 million metric tons of cocoa last year.

Many of the older, legal cocoa plantations in the country have been blighted by disease or are not producing at earlier levels as previously, which has led some growers moving on to create new farms. Migrants from outside the country have moved into Ivory Coast and have turned to farming to survive.

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Ivory Coast pilots novel elephant rescue

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — After being tranquilized and loaded onto trucks with cranes, elephants that have been squeezed out of their traditional habitat in Ivory Coast are being relocated by conservationists in what is reportedly the first such operation attempted in Africa's forests.

Ivory Coast is so enamored of elephants that its national soccer team is nicknamed after them. A tusker is prominently displayed on the national coat of arms. The country is even named after the ivory trade, underscoring how the giant mammals once proliferated in the West African nation.

Ivory Coast has not conducted a recent census to determine how many forest elephants are left in the country, but conservationists estimate there only are a few hundred. In Central Africa, their populations have been devastated by poaching in recent years.

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