Chimps decimated in the jungle

ONE of the last strongholds of an endangered species of chimpanzee has seen a 90 per cent drop in numbers in less than two decades, researchers have found.

Half a century ago, West African chimps flourished in Ivory Coast, with 100,000 living in the country's forests. Now there are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 struggling to survive – that is 90 per cent fewer than in a similar study 18 years ago.

Scientists say the animals are the victims of a growing human population and civil war.

The few remaining chimps are highly fragmented, and there is now only one viable group, in Taï National Park, according to a report in today's edition of Current Biology.

Professor Christophe Boesch, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, which carried out the research, said the booming human population was probably responsible for the chimpanzees' demise.

"The human population in (Ivory Coast] has increased nearly 50 per cent over the past 18 years," he said.

"Since most threats to chimpanzee populations are derived from human activities such as hunting and deforestation, this has contributed to the dramatic decline in chimpanzee populations. Furthermore, the situation has deteriorated even more with the start of the civil war in 2002, since all surveillance ceased in the protected areas."

In the 1960s, the chimp population of Ivory Coast was estimated at 100,000. At the end of the 1980s, when a nationwide survey was carried out, the number was 8,000 to 12,000.

Even then, the country was still home to about half of the world's remaining West African chimpanzees.

The team's new survey suggests a further 90 per cent decline, meaning there could be fewer than 1,000 left.

The researchers saw no sign of chimps at all in forest areas with low protection status. Even in protected areas such as Marahoué National Park, they said, it was clear the animals had suffered since surveillance and external funding support were disrupted by civil unrest in 2002.

Taï National Park now provides the only remaining refuge for the chimps, according to the scientists.

However, they said even this population was under great threat from poachers.

Prof Boesch said it was crucial to make sure forests were protected and that external funding, due to end in 2010, continued.

"Populations of wild chimpanzees living in protected areas with constant funding for conservation activities can survive even during periods of rapid increase in human populations and political unrest," he said.

"We must appeal to the international conservation community to invest in sustainable funding of conservation activities in national parks with known importance for chimpanzee populations. Our results show that this works."