BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE




ameroon is one of the most ecologically diverse countries on the African continent. Between coastal mangrove swamps and Mount Cameroon (4095 metres), west Africa's highest mountain, lies a hot and humid southern region of dense tropical forests of mahogany, ebony and obeche trees. The central region offers a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, and the northern vegetation is principally sahelian savannah. There are over 9,000 plant species in Cameroon, 150 of which are found nowhere else in the world.

Nearly 300 mammal species are found in the country, including 29 species of primates. Particularly interesting are the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and three endangered monkeys of the Cercopithecus genus, the Preuss's guenon, the red-tailed guenon, and the red­capped mangabey, and a baboon native to central African forests, the drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus).

Cameroon has one of Africa's largest protected giraffe populations in its Waza National Park. Other parks and reserves are home to important buffalo and elephant populations. A small population of the critically endangered black rhino (Diceros bicornis) also survives there.

Over 800 species of birds, including an endangered partridge, the Mount Cameroon francolin (Francolinus camerunensis), the Bannerman's crested turaco (Touraco bannermanni), and banded wattle-eye (Platysteira cyanea), all endemic to Cameroon, add to the country's biological wealth.




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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature