Suitoro Classified Forest

West Africa > Côte d'Ivoire > Suitoro Classified Forest

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Summary

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• Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are present in Suitoro Classified Forest.
• The population size is unknown.
• The chimpanzee population trend is decreasing.
• The site has a total size of 435.03 km².
• Key threats to chimpanzees are hunting, cattle herding, family farming, and road construction bordering the site.
• Conservation activities have focused on habitat protection and patrolling.

Site characteristics

Suitoro Classified Forest is a relatively small protected area that has the Comoé river as its eastern limit. It is dominated by savanna, with multiple dry forest islands, many of which are degraded by illegal farms of subsistence crops. Besides the chimpanzees, this classified forest is also used by forest elephants that come seasonally from Comoe National Park and Mont Tingui. Besides illegal crops and old illegal logging (2003-2006), there are artisanal gold miners, poachers and cattle herders regularly entering (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).

Table 1. Basic site information for Suitoro Classified Forest

Species	Pan troglodytes verus
Area	435 km²
Coordinates	Lat: 8.51667 , Lon: -4.01667
Type of site	Protected area (Classified Forest)
Habitat types	Subtropical/tropical dry forest, Savanna
Type of governance	Governance by government

Types of sites Governance types Habitat types

Ape status

There is a low density of chimpanzees confirmed by the National Forest and Wildlife Inventory in 2021, but this population may be important for being connected to others in Mont Tingui and Comoe National Park, and could have connectivity to unprotected areas to the south. In 2022, chimpanzee presence was documented in several forest islands through indirect signs (nests, dung, tools) along reconnaissance walks and camera trapping (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).

Table 2. Ape population estimates reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Species	Year	Occurrence	Encounter or vistation rate (nests/km; ind/day)	Density estimate [ind./ km²] (95% CI)	Abundance estimate (95% CI)	Survey area	Sampling method	Analytical framework	Source	Comments	A.P.E.S. database ID
Pan troglodytes verus	2022	Present				Suitoro Classified Forest	Camera trap, Reconnaissance walk		CCCP	Four camera traps installed for preliminary survey
Pan troglodytes verus	2021	Present				Suitoro Classified Forest	Line transects		INFF	Transects without Distance method

Sampling methods Analytical frameworks

Threats

This small chimpanzee population is seeing its habitat degrade due to illegal gold mining and agriculture. Poaching with shotgun and snares of all fauna, both in the savanna and forest pose, a direct threat. The presence of a road north of the site, along with the construction of a bridge over the Comoé River, could facilitate the rapid evacuation of bushmeat and forest resources (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).

Table 3. Threats to apes reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Category	Specific threats	Threat level	Description	Year of threat
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.1 Annual & perennial non-timber crops	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Family farming or subsistence crops inside forest island, abandoned after some years of exploitation (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
2 Agriculture & aquaculture	2.3 Livestock farming & ranching	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Cattle herders leading their livestock across the site (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
3 Energy production & mining	3.2.3 Artisanal mining	Medium (30-70% of population affected)	Artisanal illegal gold mining, with camps inside the CF (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
4 Transportation & service corridors	4.1 Roads & railroads	High (more than 70% of population affected)	National (dirt) road makes northern limit of the CF and there is a project to enlarge and pave it and to construct a bridge to cross Comoé river in the near future (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)
5 Biological resource use	5.1 Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals	High (more than 70% of population affected)	Poaching with shotgun and snares of all fauna, both savanna and forest (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).	Ongoing (2023)

Threats

Conservation activities

Table 4. Conservation activities reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Category	Specific activity	Description	Implementing organization(s)	Year of activity
2 Counter-wildlife crime	2.3 Conduct regular anti-poaching patrols	SODEFOR rangers sometimes patrol the site (Azani Dede pers. comm. 2023).		Ongoing (2023)
5 Protection & restoration	5.2 Legally protect ape habitat			1974-Ongoing (2025)

Conservation activities

Challenges

Table 5. Challenges reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Challenges	Specific challenges	Source	Year(s)
	Not reported

Challenges

Enablers

Table 6. Enablers reported for Suitoro Classified Forest

Enablers	Specific enablers	Source	Year(s)
1 Site management
2 Resources and capacity
3 Engaged community
4 Institutional support
5 Ecological context
6 Safety and stability

Enablers

Research activities

Dr. Rouan has been conducting ecological monitoring missions since 2019.

Documented behaviours

Table 7. Behaviours documented for Suitoro Classified Forest

Category	Behavior	Observation type	Prevalence	Observation dates	Source	Habituation	Species	Comment
	Not reported

Behaviours

References

Page created by: Colonel Azani Dede, Docteur Rouan, SODEFOR, APES Atlas Team Date: 2023-01-09