Great ape habitat declining
Great apes, such as gorillas, chimps and bonobos, are running out of habitat in Africa, according to researchers.
Various scientists and organisations came together to conduct the first ever survey of its kind, to record suitable great ape habitat across the whole continent of Africa.
The results, published in the Diversity and Distributions journal, showed a dramatic decline in the amount of suitable habitat.
There were two stages to the study. Firstly, 15,000 sites were determined where various great ape species have been confirmed living in the last 20 years. The team then evaluated the environmental conditions in those locations, as well as areas with no great ape presence, across Africa.
The assessments included the percentage of forest cover, human population density and climatic conditions. Scientific calculations estimated the amount of suitable great ape habitat available in both the 1990s and the 2000s.
The report suggests that the largest living primates, the eastern gorilla, have lost over half their territory since the early 1990s, with other gorillas, chimps and bonobos also suffering significant losses.
Scientists say pressures differ depending upon the region. Western Africa's habitat is mostly affected by forest clearance, however, central Africa's habitat is mostly affected by hunting, according to the report.
Hjalmar Kuehl, of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and an organiser of the research, said: "The situation is very dramatic, many of the ape populations we still find today will disappear in the near future. Without a fundamental change in perception of how precious apes and their habitats are the current situation will not improve."
