Central African Republic
Manova - Gounda St Floris National Park
SCI 230 Axia College
Jeanette Konesko
December 13, 2009
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Manovo-Gounda St.Floris National Park is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Central African Republic prefecture Bamingui-Bangoran, near the Chad border. It was inscribed to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1988 as a result of the diversity of life present within it. The importance of this park derives from its wealth of flora and fauna. Its vast savannahs are home to a wide variety of species. Notable species include black rhinoceroses, elephants, cheetahs, leopards, red-fronted gazelles, and buffalo, wild dogs, while various types of waterfowl are to be found in the northern floodplains. But it is under threat due to its rare wildlife dying and animal’s species being wiped out. People are working on breeding programs to revive the natural wildlife.(wikipedia.org) Located in the heart of the African continent, the Central African Republic (CAR) encompasses a wide array of habitats, ranging from the dry Sahelian zone in the north to the lush rainforests in the south, and supports a rich diversity of fauna and flora. Even though the CAR 's biodiversity is one of the least studied in Africa, an impressive number of species have already been documented. For example, approximately 700 species of birds have been recorded in the CAR. This region, located in the extreme southwest of the country, mostly comprises dense forest. Forest covers only 6 percent of the country, but that forest contains
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3,600 plant species, 208 mammal species, and at least 350 bird species, including the recently discovered endemic Sangha Forest robin (Stiphronis sanghensis). The Dzanga-Sangha area also features one of the highest documented densities of western lowland gorillas and forest elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) in Africa.
References: (December 13, 2009). . Retrieved from http:// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manovo-Gounda_St_Floris_National_Park Blom & Yamindou, A. &. J. (2001). A Brief History of Armed Conflict and its Impact on Biodiversity in the Central African Republic . Retrieved from http://www.worldwildlife.org/bsp/publications/africa/141/CAR-English.htm Blom, A., A. Almasi, I.M.A. Heitkonig, J.-B. Kpanou, and H.H.T. Prins. 2000. A survey of the apes in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park, Central African Republic. African Journal of Ecology. Blom, A., and J. Yamindou. 2001. Status of the protected areas and gazetted forests of the Central African Republic. In Ecological and economic impacts of gorilla-based tourism in Dzanga-Sangha, Central African Republic, doctoral thesis, by A. Blom, 2001. Department of Environmental Sciences, Tropical Nature Conservation and Vertebrate Ecology Group, Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Culverwell, J. 1998. Long-term recurrent costs of protected area management in Cameroon. Project report. WWF Cameroon and MINEF, Yaounde, Cameroon. n.d. retrieved from www.awf.org (n.d.). THE POACHING PROBLEM. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/elephants/poaching.html