Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Density Estimation in the SW-Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo: Common Methodology Revisited

Worldwide biodiversity has declined rapidly during the last decades due to pressures on environments from human population growth, resulting deforestation, habitat destruction, and bushmeat trade. Many nonhuman primates, including orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and bonobos (Pan paniscus), are endangered or close to extinction (Tutin and Fernandez 1984, Sugiyama and Soumah 1988, Hoppe-Dominik 1991, Wilkie et al. 1992, Marchesi et al. 1995, Chapman et al. 1999, Wilkie and Godoy 2000, Moore 2001, Barnes 2002,Bennett et al. 2002, Draulans and Van Krunkelsven 2002, Ling et al. 2002, Muoria et al. 2003, Whitfield 2003). Bonobos are listed as highly vulnerable in the IUCN/SSC Action Plan for African Primate Conservation (Oates 1986), and as endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2004). They are endemic to the Congo basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The species is officially protected by Congolese and international laws and is listed in Appendix 1 of CITES (CITES 2005) and on Class A of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (African Union 1968).