Cameroon-Nigeria Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes ellioti Matschie, 1914) distribution and habitat affinities in Bakossi National Park

This study explores the extent to which habitat characteristicsare affecting nest-group encounter rates of Chimpanzees in the southeastpart of the BNP. We carried out areconnaissance recce survey at a sampling intensity of 85% of 1×1sq km per grid cell.Accordingly, field operations includedaccessingthe data collection zone within the Southeast sectionfrom the East to the South and then to the North. Reconnaissance recce walks were done within a 1km×1km grid cell.Compass, secateurs, GPSs,and Cyber trackers were usedto orientate field operations.All nests irrespective ofthe distance from the reconnaissance recce walks, feeding signs, tree nest-groupcount, tree height, and water points wererecordedin the cyber tracker.GPS ID and waypointscollected irrespective of the distance within the recce survey cell were recorded. For 28 surveyed grid cells, four nest sitesof mixed agescontaining34 recent and eightoldnestswere recorded. Chimpanzee presence/signswereonly recorded in themontane forest(encounter rate of 1.2/Km), and in areas of close(visibility of 5 –10m)to open(visibility of 10 –15m)canopies, with no sign observed in areas of highlyopen canopies(visibility of >15m). Also, these areas fall within an altitude of 1235 to 1325 m asl.with the presence of available water especially from waterfalls. The presence of available food for chimpanzeeswas also recorded in this area, and all the nestsobserved were tree nests. Thisindicates that the montane forest area provides favorablehabitat conditions for chimpanzeesthan the sub-montane forest and montane grassland where no sign of this specie was observed.