International Journal of Development and Sustainability (Dec 2012)
The chimpanzees of Oluwa Forest Reserve, southwest Nigeria
Abstract
The lack of accurate information on the population of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) is a cause for concern on their conservation and management in Southwest Nigeria. We conducted surveys on the chimpanzees of Oluwa Forest Reserve, Ondo State between the month of September 2011 and February 2012. We used the combination of recce survey and GIS mapping to determine Chimpanzees’ locations in the reserve. Chimpanzee distribution was confined to the central portion of the OA2 axis of the reserve. This portion is approximately 39.22km2 representing 5.78% of the total size of the original area of the reserve. Four sightings of Chimpanzee groups were achieved with an average of 9.50 ± 1.55 individuals observed. We observed nests built on rock platforms. The numbers of tree nests observed at sleeping sites were usually fewer than the number of animals seen, indicating that not all of them build nest on trees at their nesting sites. These observations were new in nesting behavior of chimpanzees across Nigeria and it is postulated to be on account of insecurity and deprivation of essential material necessary for nesting in their night sleeping sites. We explained this on the conceptual frame work of psycho-infrastructuralism model.
