For the first time in 20 years, a spotted hyena has been found in the Batéké Plateau National Park in Gabon, which shows that the conservation efforts in the area has not been in vain
The Batéké Plateau National Park is Gabon, Africa is a 2,034 km2 protected area that was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list back in 2005. The national park was created by the Gabon government in 2002, but at that point it was in bad shape. Illegal hunting had been a big problem for the area, and most big mammals became locally extinct after the hunters started to use guns instead of traditional hunting tools.
A conservation group called The Aspinall Foundation began their reintroduction plans, and what they wanted to do was to reintroduce the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) to the area. The first gorillas were reintroduced back in the 1990s, and the population rose slow but steadily.
A western lowland gorilla mother with its offspring; the first species to be reintroduced to Batéké Plateau National Park. Image by Wikimedia Commons user Elrond, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The gorillas are considered Critically Endangered by the IUCN, so getting a breeding population in a new area like this one is very good news for conservationists.
Using the gorilla as an umbrella species
An umbrella species is a species that after receiving protection, indirectly protects other species as well. We have many instances of this; just think about how many smaller species that are saved from declining numbers because of the huge protection the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) got in China! The Aspinall Foundation figured the same thing would happen with the gorilla, and once they were back in the area, other species would naturally start to return to the national park.
A lion shows up
In 2015 a wildlife camera caught a photograph of a wild lion for the first time, and this was very good evidence of the plan actually working. This apex predator obviously plays a huge role in the ecosystem, so for one to return to the park indicates that there are plenty of prey there, and a somewhat healthy ecosystem.
Here is a YouTube video with footage of the lion in the national park!
The sole lion is still living in the park even a few years later, and the conservation group hopes to bring some female lions into the area in order to get a breeding population of lions in the park.
More cool species shows up in the park
After the arrival of the lion, even more species began to show up, and this time both chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), red river hogs (Potamochoerus porcus), forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), antelopes, and the small cat-like serval (Leptailurus serval) found its way to the national park.
And now a spotted hyena has been photographed
The latest animal to show up in the national park is a spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). This is the first time in 20 years that the spotted hyena has been found to be in the park, and this is another huge victory for the conservation group who has spent a lot of time and money to restore this park to its former glory.
A spotted hyena. Image by Flickr user Sara&Joachim, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
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Proof that protection areas and ecosystems work
What I wanted to show with this post is that protection areas can have a huge impact on the wildlife if we work hard to make it return to its natural state. By introducing the gorillas, the entire ecosystem started to attract other species, and at this point, the species richness in the area is much higher than only a few years ago.
Thanks for reading
If you want some more info, check out the press release about the discovery of the spotted hyena. There are also some links in the text for those of you who really wants to check it out! Anyway, thanks for reading.
Want to read more about this topic?
- Chile just created 5 new national parks with over 10 acres of land.
- Gabon has had more cool animal news lately; check out the dwarf crocodiles that have never been outside of the cave!
- Wonder what the biggest predicting factor of wildlife decline is? New research shows that it is armed conflict.
- The spotted hyena is not the only species of hyena, and if you want to learn more about these, check out this post.
Great news that efforts of Aspinal foundation for conservation of gorillas gave good results. It will encourage other groups, society and government to take part in this aspect. Government should make some laws for illegal hunting of endanger species. It is our common duty to keep ecosystem in balance, otherwise we will face the consequences. To achieve some thing great involve collective efforts so it's time to raise awareness about balance ecosystem.
I think the laws are already in place, but they generally lack the people and technology to enforce it.
Other than that, I completely agree with you! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment :)
It is true that laws are already in place, but it's worthless, if you can't strictly impose these laws. Things get better by implementing laws and awareness. Hope for the best:)
That's your opinion. While laws might not feel very good unless they are strictly enforced, I think it would be a lot worse if there was no laws at all. While the chance of getting caught and punished for wildlife crime is very low in some places, it is still there, and it might scare people away from this type of crime.
So good and encouraging see conservation efforts becoming fruitful.
I think this will attract more moral, ethical and financial support into conservation efforts.
Please do make a post about umbrella species, I would love to read how they effect the whole ecosystem...
Hmmmm....you like animal documentary too boss??
Lol.
I agree; it's very nice to actually see results from hard conservation effort! It's important to spread the news of the successful conservation campaigns if we want more people and governments to invest in nature conservation.
That's a good suggestion! I will definitely put it on my list of upcoming posts :)
Nice with some good news. I read in the paper (I think it was DB) that a hunter got killed while he was hunting lions. I would not say I support that, but I have to admit that I don't feel very sorry for the hunter either, especially if he hunted illegal. Hunting for trophy's is something I never would understand. Why not hunt with a camera instead? :)
Yeah, good news is always nice when it comes to conservation biology. Unfortunately they are often not as common as the bad news.
I read that too, and it is very ironic. I am personally against trophy hunting, despite the fact that it often is very good for the community. Hunting a lion can cost over $100,000, and much of this goes to conservation efforts as well as the local community, so it can be good, but I also agree that the only shooting should be done with cameras.
The Aspinall foundation is doing some really great work. It reminds me of the great work by Diane Fossey, thankfully things have changed since her tragic death. Lets hope thay can keep away all those that want to harm these species.
Yeah, they really seem to be doing great work.
The story of Diane Fossey is so sad, but I also think that things are beginning to look better, at least in certain parts of Africa. There is still a long way to go before the endangered African species are in a better place, but the future is looking somewhat bright again.
Yes, and still lots more to do.
I think there are a lot of logistical, as well as other issues associated with the reintroduction of different species into the wild I remember they had a lot of issues with the Bull elephants that they were reintroducing into the Kruger National park a good few years ago, a lot of them were going renegade and ended up getting euthanised for safety concerns.
Yeah, reintroductions can be really difficult to plan for, and it's sadly a lot of things that can go wrong during the process.
We begin the day with a great news...Lets hope it doesn't bump into that lone male lion or there won't be one anymore.
Lolzzz..hoping that the leo doesnt wipe their generation up
Nice comment kouba
It's always nice to see some good news for the environment and wildlife!
What i found new in this article is i didn't heard even the name umbrella species.Today i learnt a new word umbrella species and what these are .Secondly potted hyena is new for me.I didn't heard its name and not even i saw its picture.In your all articles i found something new :) Thanks :)
I'm glad you learned something new today, @munazza! @xabi suggested that I should expand on the umbrella species explanation, so there will be a new post about it sometime in the future where we go into more detail about that term :)
That's really good news. With all the doom and gloom we see and hear about the environment it's great to see that somewhere our efforts aren't going in vain :D
Yeah, exactly. It's important to cerebrate the victories we do get, because there is a lot more bad news than good news in conservation ecology.
I can't understand the hunters, especially doing this action as a sport. Ofcourse, it is also bad to be made to earn money.
You are doing this very well, thank you for creating awareness! All the best.
I can't either. While I support hunting for regulation and meat gathering (as long as its sustainable), I don't like sport hunting where they kill animals just for fun.
Hello friend, it is fantastic to protect the gorillas, of such a serious problem that there is in Africa for the house and the market is the one that causes that I imagine that the gorillas are killed by their skin as they suffer the elephants and rhinoceroses. the ivory of its fangs and horns, thank goodness there are enough people dedicated to the protection of them who do not mind risking their lives excellent post friend blessings
Yeah, this is really good. We would not be able to protect any species without these types of people.
Thanks for your comment!
Hello friend, it is fantastic to protect the gorillas, from such a serious problem it is unfortunate that there is in Africa because of the fultiva house and the black market I always see proframas where there are groups patrolling those parks, the black market is the one that causes that I imagine that the gorillas kill them by their skin as they suffer the elephants and rhinos by the ivory of their fangs and horns, thank goodness there are enough people dedicated to the protection of them who do not mind risking their lives excellent post friend blessings