# @rewild on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CrbcsFCrymK
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/19268693-rewild-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/f4ebcc86e6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-04-24T18:25:39.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Re:wild (@rewild) — https://gondola.cc/rewild

## Caption

A healthy population of chimpanzees may be threatened by a mining project.🙈

A new study, co-authored by several Re:wild primatologists, provided the first-ever estimate of the chimpanzee population living on the western flank of the Nimba Mountains: 136 chimpanzees living in four communities. Mt. Nimba, which straddles the borders of Guinea, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire, is a towering massif packed with incredible plants, animals and fungi. Its biodiversity has earned it status as a UNESCO World Heritage site and as a biosphere reserve. 

Counting the number of chimpanzees living on the western flank of the Nimba mountains was no easy feat—it took 15 years of monitoring. The chimpanzees are not habituated to humans, meaning they avoid researchers. So researchers turned to analyzing the DNA in 663 chimpanzee fecal samples. The analysis showed that individual chimpanzees migrate between communities, successfully mate and have babies—and that migration has helped keep the population in the Nimba Mountains healthy. 

Chimpanzee populations in West Africa have declined by more than 80% since 1990, so having an estimate of the size of the remaining populations is important for the species. Mt. Nimba has a huge iron-ore deposit underneath it and a key-shaped section has been carved out of the World Heritage site for a mining project. The concession where mining will be permitted overlaps with chimpanzee habitat on the Guinean side of Mt. Nimba. If the four chimpanzee communities become isolated from each other, it could have consequences for their health and long-term survival. They could become more susceptible to disease or their reproduction rates could drop because of stress caused by mining and associated disturbances.

#Chimpanzees #primates #WesternChimpanzee #NimbaMountains #MtNimba #Guinea #WorldHeritageSite

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 828
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- **Comments:** 17

## Tags

westernchimpanzee, mtnimba, primates, guinea, worldheritagesite, nimbamountains, chimpanzees

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