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Nimba Massif
The Nimba Range forms part of the southern extent of the Guinea Highlands, adjacent to the Toura Mountains. The highest peak is Mount Nimba on the border of Liberia, Ivory Coast and Guinea, at , and at the intersection of the Nimba and Toura Mountains. "Mount Nimba" may refer either to Mount Richard-Molard or to the entire range. Other peaks include Grand Rochers at , Mont Sempéré at , Mont Piérré Richaud at , Mont Tô at , and Mont LeClerc , all of them are located in Guinea. Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve of Guinea and Ivory Coast covers significant portions of the Nimba Range. Geology The Nimba Range is a narrow ridge extending approximately 40 km long, with an orientation of northeast–southwest. It is composed mostly of Precambrian rock, including granite and quartzite which contain deposits of iron ore. Mining of top-quality iron-ore poses the major threat to the unique geomorphology and wildlife. There are about fifty springs, including the origins of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinean Montane Forests
The Guinean montane forests are a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa. The ecoregion occupies the portions of the Guinea Highlands lying above 600 meters elevation, extending across portions of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. It includes the Fouta Djallon plateau and the massifs of Ziama Massif, Ziama, Simandou, Tétini, Béro, Kourandou in Guinea, the Loma Mountains and Tingi Hills in Sierra Leone, the Nimba Range in Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire, and the Monts du Toura in Côte d'Ivoire. Mount Bintumani in the Loma Mountains is the highest peak in West Africa west of Mount Cameroon. The next highest peaks in the region are in the Sankan Biriwa massif (1850 meters) in the Tingi Hills. Average rainfall is between 1,600 and 2400 mm per year and many important rivers have their sources in these mountains. Flora These mountains have a distinct plant cover in various phases according ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vascular Plant
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Tissue (biology), tissue (the phloem) to conduct products of photosynthesis. The group includes most embryophyte, land plants ( accepted known species) excluding mosses. Vascular plants include the clubmosses, Equisetum, horsetails, ferns, gymnosperms (including conifers), and angiosperms (flowering plants). They are contrasted with nonvascular plants such as mosses and green algae. Scientific names for the vascular plants group include Tracheophyta, Tracheobionta and Equisetopsida sensu lato, Equisetopsida ''sensu lato''. Some early land plants (the rhyniophytes) had less developed vascular tissue; the term eutracheophyte has been used for all other vascular plants, including all living ones. Historically, vascular plants were known as "hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Chimpanzee
The western chimpanzee or West African chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes verus'') is a Critically Endangered subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, specifically Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, but has been extirpated in three countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo. Etymology The taxonomical genus ''Pan'' is derived from the Greek mythology, Greek god of fields, groves, and wooded glens, Pan (mythology), Pan. The species name ''troglodytes'' is Greek for 'cave-dweller', and was coined by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in his ''Handbuch der Naturgeschichte'' (''Handbook of Natural History'') published in 1779. ''Verus'' is Latin language, Latin for 'true', and was given to this subspecies in 1934 by Ernst Schwarz (zoologist), Ernst Schwarz, who originally named it as ''Pan satyrus verus''. Taxonomy and genetics The western chimpanzee (''P. t. verus'') is a subspecies of the common chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), along wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zebra Duiker
The zebra duiker (''Cephalophus zebra'') is a small antelope found primarily in Liberia, as well as the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and occasionally Guinea. They are sometimes referred to as the banded duiker or striped-back duiker. It is believed to be one of the earliest duiker species to have evolved. Taxonomy and etymology The scientific name of the zebra duiker is ''Cephalophus zebra''. The bay duiker is classified under the genus '' Cephalophus'' and the family Bovidae. It was first described by British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1838 in '' Annals of Natural History''. No subspecies are identified. The generic name probably comes from the combination of the New Latin word ''cephal'', meaning head, and the Greek word ''lophos'', meaning crest. The specific name ''zebra'' pertains to the striking resemblance this duiker bears to the zebra due to the presence of dorsal stripes. The word "duiker" comes from the Afrikaans word ''duik'', or Dutch ''duiker'' - both mean "di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pygmy Hippopotamus
The pygmy hippopotamus or pygmy hippo (''Choeropsis liberiensis'') is a small Hippopotamidae, hippopotamid which is native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, primarily in Liberia, with small populations in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It has been extirpated from Nigeria. The pygmy hippopotamus is reclusive and nocturnal. It is one of only two extant species in the family (biology), family Hippopotamidae, the other being its much larger relative, the common hippopotamus (''Hippopotamus amphibius'') or Nile hippopotamus. The pygmy hippopotamus displays many terrestrial adaptations, but like the common hippopotamus, it is semiaquatic and relies on water to keep its skin moist and its body temperature cool. Behaviors such as mating and giving birth may occur in water or on land. The pygmy hippopotamus is herbivorous, feeding on ferns, dicotyledons, broad-leaved plants, grasses, and fruits it finds in the forests. A rare nocturnal forest creature, the pygmy hippopotamu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
West African Lion
''Panthera leo leo'' is a lion subspecies present in West Africa, northern Central Africa and India. In West and Central Africa it is restricted to fragmented and isolated populations with a declining trajectory. It has been referred to as the northern lion. Results of a phylogeographic study indicate that lion populations in West and Central African range countries are genetically close to populations in India, forming a major clade distinct from lion populations in Southern and East Africa. In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group subsumed lion populations according to the major clades into two subspecies, namely ''P. l. leo'' and ''P. l. melanochaita''. Within ''P. l. leo'' three subclades are clearly distinguishable. One from Asia, which includes the extinct Barbary lions of North Africa, another one from West Africa and a third one from Central Africa, north of the rainforest belt. ''P. l. leo'' is regionally extinct in North Africa, so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nimba Otter Shrew
The Nimba otter shrew (''Micropotamogale lamottei'') is a dwarf otter shrew and belongs to the mammal family Potamogalidae. Otter shrews are shrew-like afrotherian mammals found in sub-Saharan Africa. They are most closely related to the tenrecs of Madagascar. This species belongs to the genus '' Micropotamogale'', literally meaning "tiny river weasel". It is native to the Mount Nimba area which rests along the border of Liberia, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa. Description The Nimba otter shrew is a small-bodied mammal. Weighing only about it has a body length of with a quarter to a third of its body size being its tail. It has been described as a "miniature sea otter with a rat tail". Its pelage is long, hiding its ears and eyes, and almost always universally colored (usually brown, but black and gray otter shrews have been spotted). Evolution and life history The Nimba otter shrew is classified as a member of Potamogalidae, which is related t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myotis Nimbaensis
The Nimba myotis (''Myotis nimbaensis''), also known as the orange-furred bat or Nimba Mountain bat, is a species of bat in the family Vespertilionidae. The species is endemic to the Nimba Mountains in Guinea, West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha .... It was discovered in 2018 and officially described in 2021 by a team of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History in partnership with a team from The University of Cameroon, which was led by American mammalogist Nancy Simmons. Description ''M. nimbaensis'' has orange fur with black dichromatic wing pigmentation. It lives in natural caves and adits (abandoned mine shafts) in the Nimba mountain range. The expedition of researchers went out searching for Lamotte's roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros lamo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamotte's Roundleaf Bat
Lamotte's roundleaf bat (''Hipposideros lamottei'') is a species of bat found only at Mount Nimba on the border of Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea and Liberia. It is critically endangered. Taxonomy It was described as a new species in 1984 by French zoologist André Brosset. He chose the species name ''lamottei'' after Dr. Maxime Lamotte, who was also a French zoologist. Its status as a species has been called into question, and some suggested that it might be synonymous with Noack's roundleaf bat, ''Hipposideros ruber''. While its mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b may only differ from that of ''H. ruber'' by only 6%, a 2013 study found that it was morphologically distinct from it. Based on its morphology, it is in the ''caffer/ruber'' species complex of its genus. Other species in this complex include: * Sundevall's roundleaf bat, ''H. caffer'' * Noack's roundleaf bat, ''H. ruber'' *'' H. tephrus'' Based on genetic analysis, it has been hypothesized that Lamotte's roundleaf bat has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Nimba Toad
''Nimbaphrynoides'' is a monotypic genus of Bufonidae, true toads from highlands in the Mount Nimba region of the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire. The sole species is ''Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis''. Along with ''Nectophrynoides'', ''Eleutherodactylus jasperi'', and ''Limnonectes larvaepartus'', ''Nimbaphrynoides'' is one of the only anurans that combine internal fertilization with ovoviviparity.Wells (2007). ''The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians.'' Pp. 486–487. Taxonomy and systematics ''Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis'' was first species description, described as ''Nectophrynoides occidentalis'' by Fernand Angel in 1943. A second species from Mount Nimba, ''Nectophrynoides liberiensis'', was described in 1979. The two were then transferred to a newly erected genus ''Nimbaphrynoides'' in 1987. The two species were similar except for the larger size of ''N. liberiensis'' compared to ''N. occidentalis'' and some small colour differences. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
