PSGB Grant Report: Rita Santos

Описание: The Mayombe forest is located in the southwestern margin of the Congo Basin, between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Congo, and Gabon, and is part of the second-largest world’s equatorial rainforest. In Cabinda, Angola, the Mayombe National Park (MNP) was licensed in 2011, covering an area of 193,000 hectares, representing part of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest biome. Decades of war have hampered field studies of the Angolan biodiversity, resulting in limited information about the population of the terrestrial fauna. The MNP provides habitat for the central chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) and the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), classified as endangered and critically endangered species, respectively, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), with no available data regarding the population and health statuses of the great apes in Cabinda. This research is part of a larger multidisciplinary project that aims to identify, locate, and study the populations of central chimpanzees and western lowland gorillas in the MNP. The goal is to monitor the health status of the great apes of the MNP, in Cabinda, particularly focusing on zoonotic diseases with public health importance, epidemiology, and main drivers.