Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program

Latest Data

Our December 2006 report, Monkeys in Trouble: The Rapidly Deteriorating Conservation Status of the Monkeys on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea, is available for download in English or en espanol.

As the conservation situation on Bioko Island rapidly worsens, we are issuing updates to the "Monkeys in Trouble" report every 3 months.  The following updates are now available:

• First quarter 2007 update in English or First quarter 2007 update en espanol

• Second quarter 2007 update in English or Second quarter 2007 update en espanol

• Third quarter 2007 update in English or Third quarter 2007 update en espanol

Overview of the Conservation Status of Primates

The situation of Bioko's seven species of monkeys is precarious. At the current level of hunting, their survival over the next five to ten years is in peril. Most, if not all, will likely not survive by taking refuge in hard-to-hunt locations, in deep ravines, waterless highlands or remote areas. In Pico Basile National Park, the highlands were thought to be relatively safe from hunters because of the lack of water, and the Caldera de Bonyoma equally safe because of its steep sides, but the Park has lost more than 90% of its monkeys, with only a few red-eared guenons detected on recent surveys. Black colobus and Preuss’s guenon, once among the most common monkey species on Pico Basile, are now locally extinct.

The high prices paid for bushmeat at the Malabo Market make it profitable for hunters to make the extra effort to go to the most remote and difficult parts of the Island. Since the larger bushmeat species, especially the monkeys, are especially susceptible to shotgun hunting, they will be the first species to be hunted to extinction.

Virtually all the shotgun hunting takes place within the boundaries of the two protected areas on Bioko Island and is, therefore, illegal (Law No. 4/2000). Most of the species of monkeys that are the principal target of shotgun hunters are officially classified (by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature) as ‘threatened’. That is, they are all ‘in danger of extinction’ and, therefore, protected by international agreements.

The remaining monkeys on Bioko Island are increasingly limited to the more remote forests in the Gran Caldera and Southern Highlands Scientific Reserve. The passive protection provided by the BBPP wildlife patrols in these remote areas will not, in the near future, be sufficient to protect the monkeys from hunting.

Of Bioko's seven species of monkey, five (the drill, black colobus, Pennant’s red colobus, red-eared guenon, and Preuss’s monkey) are now among Africa’s ten most endangered monkey species, and all seven are endangered at the subspecies level, as a result of their small populations and small geographic ranges.

To emphasize the seriousness of the primate conservation situation on Bioko Island, the IUCN/SSC’s Primate Specialist Group ranks Bioko Island as the single most important place in Africa for the conservation of primate diversity. One of Bioko Island’s monkey species, Pennant’s red colobus, was recently selected by the Primate Specialist Group for a second 2-year term on the World’s Twenty-Five Most Endangered Primates list.

None of the taxa of monkeys on Bioko Island are represented by viable populations in captivity. In some cases, like the black colobus and the red colobus, the species simply does not survive in captivity. Only the drill, with several hundred animals in captivity in Nigeria, has a viable captive population, but these animals are of a different subspecies from that endemic to Bioko Island.

To prevent hunting to extinction, the government of Equatorial Guinea needs to take immediate action. Here are several recommendations for immediate conservation actions as concerns the long-term conservation of Bioko Islands’ primates:

• Ban all hunting by shotgun on Bioko Island, thereby providing immediate relief for the most threatened forest animals (i.e., the seven monkey species and Ogilby’s duiker). By confiscating all shotguns (as has been done by the government of Equatorial Guinea in the past), the ban would be relatively easy to enforce. Other species that are traditionally captured by trapping will still be available to hunters, even if the hunting is illegal.
• Fund the BBPP wildlife patrols through government grants to UNGE, thereby continuing the passive protection for wildlife until professional government park wardens and rangers are trained, equipped and deployed.
• Put into place detailed management plans for each of Bioko Island’s two protected areas.
• Train, equip, and deploy professional government-managed park wardens and rangers to
  • Enforce the protected area regulations
  • Manage the two protected areas on Bioko Island.