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Trophy hunting is widely used in Africa to generate funding for wildlife areas. In 2015, a global media frenzy resulted from the illegal killing of a radiocollared lion, "Cecil," by a trophy hunter in Zimbabwe. Trophy hunting is contentious and much of the media discourse is emotional and polarized, focusing on animal welfare and debating the value of hunting as a conservation tool. We use the Cecil incident to urge a change in the focus of discussion and make a call for global action.We highlight the dual challenge to African governments posed by the need to fund vast wildlife estates and provide incentives for conservation by communities in the context of growing human populations and competing priorities. With or without trophy hunting, Africa's wildlife areas require much more funding to prevent serious biodiversity loss. In light of this, we urge a shift away from perpetual debates over trophy hunting to the more pressing question of "How do we fund Africa's wildlife areas adequately?" We urge the international community to greatly increase funding and technical support for Africa's wildlife estate. Concurrently, we encourage African governments and hunters to take decisive steps to reform hunting industries and address challenges associated with that revenue generating option. ; http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1755-263X ; am2017 ; Mammal Research Institute ; Zoology and Entomology

In many countries wildlife species are threatened by hunting for meat or collection for the pet trade. Wildlife laws which control where these activities can occur, limit the timing of exploitation, or provide strict protection for some species are therefore an important component of the conservation strategy. However it is important that these wildlife laws reflect the ecology and threat status of the species concerned, and that they are aligned with any relevant international conventions. In this article we discuss the legal framework for exploiting and protecting tetrapod species in Madagascar. We review the 2006 update to wildlife legislation with respect to international treaties, other national legislation and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. We also present a summary of the different categories of hunting (sport, commercial, scientific, and subsistence) and the control of hunting in protected areas. Madagascar has a sound legal framework for the use and protection of wildlife and the classification of species into protected, pest and legally hunted is clear and mostly fits well with the species' classification according to the IUCN Red List and CITES. A revision of the protected species list managed is needed however to (i) include marine mammals that are protected by fisheries law and the Convention on Migratory Species and to (ii) better reflect the rights of people whose livelihoods rely heavily on the income or protein derived from hunting animals. Renewed effort to communicate and enforce wildlife legislation is needed, especially regarding the illegal hunting and export of protected species. This would also support the ongoing initiative to expand the protected area system and could be integrated into a revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan that Madagascar should produce for 2011-2020 as part of its commitment to implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity. RÉSUMÉLes lois et règlements déterminant les niveaux de protection des espèces de la faune et de la flore sauvages sont des indicateurs importants de l'importance qu'accorde un pays à la conservation de sa biodiversité. Dans cette revue, nous évaluons la cohérence entre les lois et règlements portant sur la gestion de la faune sauvage à Madagascar, en considérant la législation nationale, les conventions internationales ratifiées et la Liste Rouge de l'UICN pour les confronter aux réalités locales. Suite à nos analyses, nous pouvons conclure que Madagascar dispose d'un cadre juridique adéquat pour réglementer la protection et l'exploitation des animaux sauvages. Cependant, des révisions et mises à jour sont nécessaires, particulièrement en ce qui concerne la liste des espèces dans les différentes catégories et la facilitation de la mise en application de la loi.

Over-exploitation of wildlife especially bushmeat trade is the second most important threat to animal biodiversity. This also applies to Northern Angola but data on bushmeat and hunting techniques for this region are rare. Therefore, we study the most common hunting techniques, frequently captured species, and their economic value, and discuss the local resource use in relation to Angolan law and urgent global crises like the loss of biodiversity, the food supply in South African countries, and the risk of zoonoses. We recorded bushmeat hunting in 27 localities in the province of Uíge, accompanied hunters along their snare lines and interviewed additional 20 locals. Seven main types of snares and traps and their characteristics were defined. Hunters own on average 92 ± 128.7 snares and traps and capture about 25.3 ± 23.6 animals monthly. In total, respondents recognized 28 species of mammals of which one is considered as extinct and two as very rare. The majority of recorded species are hunted regularly. Rodents are most commonly caught followed by primates and duikers. Harvesting rates decrease with species' body size, leading to high economic value of and achievable prices for rare, large animals. Overall, our results document the hunting pressure on mammals and the persisting popularity of bushmeat in Northern Angola which poses an imminent threat to remaining mammal populations. Moreover, it endangers ecosystem integrity, rural livelihoods, and human health through the risk of new zoonoses. Our findings underscore the urgent need for sustainable solutions. The Angolan government should play a more active role in enforcing existing hunting legislation to reduce illegal bushmeat trade. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10344-021-01541-y.

Contents
1 Nigeria: Beware false profits3 Algeria: Bouteflika digs in4 Togo: Last of the dinosaurs5 zambia: Levy at war7 African Union: Part of the union8 Pointers: HIV/AIDS, Côte d'lvoire, São Tomé e Príncipe & Bushmeat

Issues in Ape and Human Evolution -- African Apes as Time Machines -- Primate Divergence Times -- The Cerebellum: An Asset to Hominoid Cognition -- Bonobos, the "Forgotten Ape"? -- The Status of Bonobo (Pan Paniscus) in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- The Status of Bonobos in Their Southernmost Geographic Range -- Current Situation of Bonobos in the Luo Reserve, Equateur, Democratic Republic of Congo -- Chimpanzees, the Best Known Ape -- Pan in Pandemonium -- Predation of Mammals by the Chimpanzees of the Mahale Mountains, Tanzania -- Representational Capacities in Chimpanzees: Numerical and Spatial Reasoning -- Gorillas, the Greatest of the Apes -- The Status of Gogillas Worldwide -- Twenty-Seven Years of Project Koko and Michael -- Who's in Charge? Observations of Social Behavior in a Captive Group of Western Lowland Gorillas -- Physiological Bases for Behavior and Aging: Great Apes and Humans -- The Great APE Aging Project: A Resource for Comparative Study of Behavior, Cognition, Health, and Neurobiology -- An International Database for the Study of Diabetes, Obesity, and Aging in Great Apes and Other Nonhuman Primates -- Studies of Age-Related Neuronal Pathology in Great Apes -- Metabolites of Ovarian Hormones and Behavioral Correlates in Captive Female Bonobos (Pan Paniscus) -- Sexual Motivation of Male Chimpanzees During the Female Cycle, Including Preliminary Data on Age Effects -- The Bushmeat Crisis: African Apes at Risk -- Bushmeat, Primate Kinship, and the Global Conservation Movement -- Status of the Proposed Lomako Forest Bonobo Reserve: A Case Study of the Bushmeat Trade -- What Happened to Gorilla Gorilla Uellensis?: A Preliminary Investigation -- Apes, Persons, and Bioethics.

International audience ; Bushmeat is a major source of protein and income in tropical regions but is often over-harvested. A better monitoring of bushmeat stocks could help achieve sustainability. We used a combination of simulations and transect survey data collected from blue duikers (Philantomba monticola) in the Lomako wildlife reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to investigate the use of transect-based distance sampling to monitor bushmeat stocks. The comparison of dung piles and direct observations of duikers evidenced that animals avoided both the transects in the absence of observers, and the observers themselves. This type of behavioural response appeared common in a literature survey. It causes a negative bias in the estimates of population densities from the standard distance sampling methodology. This negative bias would lead to over-pessimistic predictions of population viability, especially if the behavioural response is more intense in the locations where the animals are hunted. In turn, this would lead to excessively conservative management recommendations. To correct for the effect of the behavioural response of the animals to either the transects or the observers, we recommend recording both the forward and perpendicular distances to the observers (2D distance sampling), not just the perpendicular distance. We also recommend multiple-observer protocols. As a cautionary note, we also demonstrate a scenario where the intensity of the behavioural response is too high to reliably estimate the abundance of the population. As a perspective, we outline the general principles of a local stakeholder-based program combining distance sampling with less intensive types of ecological indicators to monitor wildlife populations.

International audience ; Bushmeat is a major source of protein and income in tropical regions but is often over-harvested. A better monitoring of bushmeat stocks could help achieve sustainability. We used a combination of simulations and transect survey data collected from blue duikers (Philantomba monticola) in the Lomako wildlife reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to investigate the use of transect-based distance sampling to monitor bushmeat stocks. The comparison of dung piles and direct observations of duikers evidenced that animals avoided both the transects in the absence of observers, and the observers themselves. This type of behavioural response appeared common in a literature survey. It causes a negative bias in the estimates of population densities from the standard distance sampling methodology. This negative bias would lead to over-pessimistic predictions of population viability, especially if the behavioural response is more intense in the locations where the animals are hunted. In turn, this would lead to excessively conservative management recommendations. To correct for the effect of the behavioural response of the animals to either the transects or the observers, we recommend recording both the forward and perpendicular distances to the observers (2D distance sampling), not just the perpendicular distance. We also recommend multiple-observer protocols. As a cautionary note, we also demonstrate a scenario where the intensity of the behavioural response is too high to reliably estimate the abundance of the population. As a perspective, we outline the general principles of a local stakeholder-based program combining distance sampling with less intensive types of ecological indicators to monitor wildlife populations.

International audience ; Bushmeat is a major source of protein and income in tropical regions but is often over-harvested. A better monitoring of bushmeat stocks could help achieve sustainability. We used a combination of simulations and transect survey data collected from blue duikers (Philantomba monticola) in the Lomako wildlife reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo, to investigate the use of transect-based distance sampling to monitor bushmeat stocks. The comparison of dung piles and direct observations of duikers evidenced that animals avoided both the transects in the absence of observers, and the observers themselves. This type of behavioural response appeared common in a literature survey. It causes a negative bias in the estimates of population densities from the standard distance sampling methodology. This negative bias would lead to over-pessimistic predictions of population viability, especially if the behavioural response is more intense in the locations where the animals are hunted. In turn, this would lead to excessively conservative management recommendations. To correct for the effect of the behavioural response of the animals to either the transects or the observers, we recommend recording both the forward and perpendicular distances to the observers (2D distance sampling), not just the perpendicular distance. We also recommend multiple-observer protocols. As a cautionary note, we also demonstrate a scenario where the intensity of the behavioural response is too high to reliably estimate the abundance of the population. As a perspective, we outline the general principles of a local stakeholder-based program combining distance sampling with less intensive types of ecological indicators to monitor wildlife populations.

Le Dauphin à bosse de l' Atlantique (Sousa teuszii) est une espèce encore mal connue: sa biologie, sa distribution détaillée et l'existence de populations restent encore à préciser. Des suivis de terrain, des enquêtes et des observations opportunistes ont permis d'identifier plusieurs nouveaux spécimens, observés en mer ou retrouvés après leur capture, dans quatre pays, dont le Nigéria et le Togo où la présence de S. teuszii, bien que fortement suspectée, n'avait jamais été prouvée. De nouvelles données, provenant des îles Tristao et de l'estuaire du Río Nuñez en Guinée du nord, indiquent que les populations du Rio do Jêba- Bijagos (Guinée-Bissau) et Guinée du sud devraient être combinées dans une seule population Guinéenne. La population du golfe de Guinée, qui correspond à la population historique de S. teuszii, anciennement appelée « dauphins du Cameroun », s'étend au minimum du Togo au sud du Cameroun. Plusieurs spécimens prouvent que la mortalité de S. teuszii causée par des captures accidentelles ou ciblées est significative, répandue et difficilement quantifiable en raison des contrôles sporadiques qui sont réalisés. Ces captures sont préoccupantes en Guinée, au Nigéria et au Cameroun. Les dauphins sont capturés accidentellement dans des filets maillants de pêcheries artisanales littorales, puis consommés comme « viande de brousse marine ». La commercialisation de ce type de viande étant croissante, les captures intentionnelles risquent aussi d'être encouragées. La rareté des observations et la petite taille des groupes dans le golfe de Guinée du nord indiquent des communautés de dauphins qui semblent plutôt en déclin. Des variations de répartition de l'espèce peuvent apparaître de novo le long des côtes fortement peuplées par l'Homme, après des décennies de prises accessoires, de compétition pour les ressources alimentaires, et de perte d'habitat suite à un développement côtier irréversible. Nous suggérons que le manque d'effort de suivi n'explique pas entièrement l'absence d'observations de S. teuszii sur les 1900 km de littoral allant du Ghana à la Sierra Leone, et particulièrement au Ghana où le suivi des petits cétacés est mieux documenté. La mise en œuvre d'une politique de conservation rigoureuse devient dès lors de plus en plus urgente. De nouvelles Aires Marines Protégées binationales et transfrontalières pourraient avoir des effets positifs et mesurables en termes de conservation en limitant la compétition pour les proies avec les pêcheries, en limitant les captures accidentelles dans les filets et en limitant la destruction des habitats. L'installation d'un groupe de travail ad hoc, à l'échelle de la région considérée, est recommandée afin d'identifier des mesures pratiques visant à éviter que le Dauphin à bosse de l'Atlantique, maintenant menacé, ne se dirige vers l'extinction. ; The Atlantic humpback dolphin's biology, small-scale distribution and population structure are poorly known. Dedicated surveys and incidental observations resulted in new specimens and sighting records in four nations, of which Nigeria and Togo comprise long-suspected but newly documented range states. Multiple records at the Tristao Islands and Río Nuñez Estuary in northern Guinea indicate that the management stocks of Rio do Jêba-Bijagos (Guinea-Bissau) and South Guinea should be combined into a single Guineas stock. A Gulf of Guinea stock, the historical 'Cameroon dolphins', extends from Togo to (at least) southern Cameroon. Specimen evidence shows fisheries-caused mortality of S. teuszii is significant, widespread, and non-quantifiable at present due to only sporadic monitoring of landings. Of special concern are catches in Guinea, Nigeria and Cameroon. All dolphins were killed in small-scale nearshore fisheries, mostly from incidental gill-net entanglement, and were locally consumed as marine bushmeat. With increasing commercialization however, intentional captures may be encouraged. Rare sightings of mostly small groups in the northern Gulf of Guinea point to remnant, struggling, dolphin communities. De novo distribution gaps may emerge along heavily populated coasts following decades of by-catches, prey competition and habitat loss from irreversible coastal development. We suggest that scarcity of survey effort does not fully explain the absence of S. teuszii records over 1900 km of coastlines between Ghana and Sierra Leone, and particularly in Ghana where small cetacean exploitation is extensive. The implementation of a stringent conservation policy becomes increasingly urgent. New binational, border-straddling Marine Protected Areas could have significant conservation effects by limiting prey competition from fisheries and mitigating net entanglements and habitat destruction. The set-up of a regional ad hoc task force is strongly recommended to help introduce such practicable measures that could stop the threatened Atlantic humpback dolphin from sliding towards extinction.

The Western Congo Basin (WCB) defined here as comprising Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo is being rapidly emptied of its wild animals, with alarming rates of poaching in all four countries. High levels of poaching have numerous deleterious effects for sustainable development. In the WCB, efforts to protect wildlife have focused heavily on the establishment and management of protected areas, often within the context of a landscape-based approach that attempts to engage nearby communities and other land users. The low perceived value of forest wildlife resources for local communities is partially attributable to a lack of economic opportunities currently derivable from the sustainable management of wildlife assets. In a bid to help the WCB countries address this downward spiral, this study identifies approaches that can enhance the economic value of wildlife resources for local communities and governments as a contribution to poverty reduction, economic development, and conservation. It aims to do so at the regional and national levels as a single country cannot address this crisis given the fluidity of both borders and wildlife in the region. Naturally, the set and sequence of solutions most appropriate in any given setting will depend on a number of country-specific conditions. Nevertheless, the majority of the recommendations in this report apply to all four WCB countries. In that spirit, the study first provides an overview of the poaching crisis, using elephants as a case study to illustrate the scale of the problem (chapter 2). It then proceeds to analyze who the poachers are (chapter 3) to better understand drivers of poaching, while Chapter 4 analyzes the policy framework. Chapter 5 proposes approaches for creating economic value from wildlife, sharing it with communities, and creating the necessary underlying governance conditions, providing best-practice examples from other parts of the world. Chapter 6 presents conclusions.

The African leopard Panthera pardus pardus is an apex predator, and a reliable indicator of a healthy ecosystem. Currently assessed as ‗near threatened' by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, leopards are exposed to a range of threats that include: habitat loss and/or degradation, depletion of natural prey, conflict with people, consumptive- and non-consumptive practices, and the illegal trade of leopard products. Leopards have disappeared from 37% of their historical range, and are continuing to decline. Leopards have been extirpated across many areas of Africa, especially where people are densely populated, which has left patchily distributed leopard populations throughout the continent—to date, an accurate census has never been achieved. A variety of management techniques and conservation schemes are used in an attempt to mitigate threats directed at leopards; for example: (1) improved livestock husbandry that reduces livestock depredation and thus reduces retaliatory killing of the supposed offender—often thought to be the leopard, (2) designing community-based conservation schemes that benefit local people (i.e., food, money, jobs, ownership), (3) financial compensation for livestock losses, (4) ecotourism and regulated sport hunting, and (5) ratification of conservation-orientated government policies. Detailed, long-term leopard research began in the 1970's, and continues to the present day with many peer-reviewed papers focusing primarily on their ecology within savannah ecosystems. Technological advances (e.g., GPS tracking collars and remote camera traps) are helping to further our knowledge of leopard demographics, intra- and inter-specific interactions, predation, habitat use, and effective monitoring techniques. Nevertheless, more research is desperately required if leopard populations are to persist within human-dominated landscapes, like continental Africa.

Choosing and adapting wildlife management options ideally requires appropriate and affordable information on trends in animal populations and offtakes over several years. In African tropical forests, most studies have been documenting separately wildlife abundance, offtake and consumption of bushmeat. In addition, most site-level assessments were so far implemented using different methodologies, thus limiting the potential for meta-analysis at inter-site level. Yet, measuring concurrently spatial patterns of wildlife occurrence and hunting activities at different sites along gradients of human pressure (land conversion, human density) may provide a useful basis to identify indicators of non-sustainability of hunting, and to help predict temporal trends at site level. In this study, we implemented a standard protocol aiming at assessing bushmeat use and availability over 6 hunting grounds located in the Congo Basin (Gabon, Congo, and Democratic Republic of Congo). This preliminary diagnostic was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of testing community-based hunting approaches in the framework of a FAO/GEF project. For this purpose, we mapped the contours and the principal features of every hunting ground, and characterized the management rules, wildlife resources, hunting practices, offtakes and consumption. Results of the comparison between sites show how indicators of game species availability (e.g. species diversity, abundance indices, etc.) and resource use (e.g. catch per unit effort, ratio between small and large body-sized species, composition of the catch, etc.) vary in contexts of contrasted hunting pressure. We discuss their respective relevance as a basis for implementing evidence-based wildlife management strategies through adaptive management.

Abstract. During hundreds of years, the native indigenous population of the Amazon have lived in balance with their natural resources, but since colonization many regions shows an ecologically unsustainable resources use, representing an ecologic and cultural crisis in the region. To know the drivers of the ecological unsustainability of mammal hunting, I studied three substantial different indigenous communities in the Inirida Region, characterized by an intense evangelization process. Ecological, socio-economic and cultural factors were tacked into account to identify the mayor causes of unsustainable hunting. Semi-structured interviews in a recall survey way were conducted in each community through October–December 2011, and were collected hunting and economic activity, food expenses and cultural relevant information. The data was analyzed in a qualitative way and from a holistic perspective. The results showed the persistence of hunt of rodents in the region and only occasional hunt of large-bodied mammals in the furthest communities dedicated to agricultural and commercial activities, where the diary protein requirements are supplied by bushmeat, in a more sustainable resources use. Contrary, in the community nearest to the town, dedicated to paid work, the protein requirements are not supplied by bushmeat, but the people sold the animals hunted and have highest food expenses. These appear to be the patron in the region, corroborating that the bushmeat is not been used as subsistence resource. The situation has been propitiated by the loss of traditional practices and worldview of the indigenous people, causing the change of traditional patterns of natural resources use. It indicates that the mayor driver of the actual ecologically unsustainable hunting activity in the region has been the radical evangelization process, plus an external social and governmental commercial pressure. Evidence of the critical necessity of takes into account the cultural context to find appropriate solutions to the bushmeat threat. ; Durante cientos de años, las poblaciones indígenas nativas de América han vivido en balance con sus recursos naturales, pero desde la colonización varias regiones muestran un uso de los recursos ecológicamente insostenible, representando una crisis ecológica y cultural en la región. Para conocer las causas de la insostenibilidad ecológica de la cacería de mamíferos, yo estudié tres comunidades indígenas substancialmente diferentes en la región de Inírida, caracterizadas por un intenso proceso de evangelización. Factores ecológicos, socio-económicos y culturales fueron tomados en cuenta con el fin de identificar las mayores causas de insostenibilidad de la cacería. Entrevistas semiestructuradas fueron realizadas en cada comunidad durante Octubre-Diciembre de 2011 y fueron recolectados datos sobre la actividad de cacería y económica, gastos de alimentación e información cultural relevante. Los datos fueron analizados de forma cualitativa y desde una perspectiva holística. Los resultados muestran la persistencia de la caza de roedores en la región y sólo la caza ocasional de mamíferos de gran tamaño en la comunidad más alejada dedicada a las actividades de agricultura y comercial, donde los requerimientos diarios de proteína son suplidos por la carne de monte, con un uso de los recursos más sostenible. Contrariamente, en la comunidad más cercana al pueblo, dedicada al trabajo de jornal, los requerimientos de proteína no son suplidos por la carne de monte, pero la gente vende los animales cazados y tiene los más altos gastos en alimentación. Este parece ser el patrón en la región, corroborando que la carne de monte no está siendo usada como recurso de subsistencia. La situación ha sido propiciada por la pérdida de prácticas tradicionales y visión del mundo de las comunidades indígenas, causando el cambio de patrones tradicionales para el uso de recursos naturales. Esto indica que la mayor causa de la actual insostenibilidad ecológica de la actividad de cacería en la región ha sido el radical proceso de evangelización, sumado a presiones comerciales externas sociales y gubernamentales. Se evidencia la crítica necesidad de tomar en cuenta el contexto cultural para encontrar apropiadas soluciones a la carne de monte amenazada. ; Maestría

Researchers across disciplines have struggled to understand the entanglement of human-environment relationships. Nowhere are these entanglements more evident than among human communities situated within protected areas. These communities often rely on natural resources, such as wildlife, as an integral component of daily livelihoods. The success of human livelihood strategies and the continued presence of wildlife hinges upon our ability to understand inherently dependent relationships between animals and humans. Using the bushmeat trade as an entry point, this article draws on theoretical developments in anthropology, specifically mutual ecologies and data-based approaches to wildlife management, to examine relationships between hunters and hunted in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve (APDS).