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Author:Flore Monteau

Notes from the Field: Floods in Congo’s Peat Forests

From the air, the forest in Northern Congo looks like a vast, green carpet, broken only by tree falls and glimpses of streams. At this time of year, if you were to plunge beneath the canopy, you'd be faced with a bizarre mirror-world, with still black water reflecting the forest above and below. In the Congo's north-eastern forests, rains fall onto deep layers of peat,...

Zoonotic viruses: preventing epidemics by monitoring wildlife mortality

For over 14 years, the Wildlife Health Programme (WHP) implemented by WCS in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Congolese Ministry of Health, has been working to monitor wildlife mortality and minimize the risks of disease transmission to communities. The project raises awareness among communities in northern Congo and has set up an early warning system for unexplained wildlife deaths that covers more than...

Rare giant pangolin rescue in Congo

A giant pangolin, the world’s most trafficked scaled mammal, was rescued and later cared for by our teams. Thanks to the collaboration between experienced pangolins carers from our Wildlife Health program teams in Congo, the Tikki Hywood Foundation to the Sangha Pangolin Project in Central African Republic, this species highly sensitive to stress, and generally dying a few hours or days from capture, was for once...

Meet Marcel Ngangoue, winner of the African Ranger Award

Marcel Ngangoue won the African Ranger Award 2019, which recognizes and supports the achievements and efforts of rangers working to combat the precipitous decline of Africa's wildlife species due to poaching, habitat loss, and the illegal wildlife trade....

Largest study ever in Western Equatorial Africa shows gorillas in deep trouble

In 2018, scientists from ten different organizations assembled the largest survey dataset ever on western lowland gorillas and central chimpanzees. We collated the information on great apes nests from 59 sites in five countries surveyed over 11 years between 2003 and 2013. The study indicated that although there were more gorillas than previously published, they were in deep trouble- declining by a shocking 2.7% every year....

Scientific research, an essential tool for the conservation of forest elephants

For more than 25 years, scientists have  been monitoring, studying and observing Mbeli bai’s wildlife in the Nouabalé-Ndoki national park. The Mbeli study is named after the bai , or clearing, where the research is conducted. Forest elephants, a still little known and often overlooked sub-species, are frequently observed in this unique landscape. The Mbeli study has contributed essential  knowledge to the development of improved...

Richard Malonga, Director of WCS’s Republic of Congo Program

Mr. Richard Malonga has been appointed Director of WCS's Republic of Congo Program, succeeding Mr. Mark Gately. Richard Malonga's experience with WCS Congo began almost 25 years ago in 1995, when Richard first worked as a volunteer for WCS, helping to set up our very first database to track bushmeat consumption. He then played a key role in the launch of the PROGEPP project in...