Zena Tooze (born 3 May 1955) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and conservationist who has worked in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in the area of

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manage ...

since 1991. She received a master's degree in Biology from

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

in 1987. In 2005 she received a Whitley Award for excellence in leadership in nature conservation.

CERCOPAN

In 1994 Tooze founded the Centre for Education, Research and Conservation of Primates and Nature (CERCOPAN) which is a non-profit,

non-government organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

based in

Cross River State Cross River State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named for the Cross River, the state was formed from the eastern part of the Eastern Region on 27 May 1967. The state has its capital as Calabar and is bordered to ...

, Nigeria. CERCOPAN is a rehabilitation and conservation project for threatened and endangered forest

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s. Much of its work involves the rehabilitation of young monkeys orphaned by the trade in

bushmeat Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species that are Hunting, hunted for human consumption. Bushmeat represents a primary source of animal protein and a cash-earning commodity in poor and rural communities of humid tropical forest regions of the worl ...

. The mission of CERCOPAN is to conserve Nigeria's primates through sustainable

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

conservation, community partnerships, education, primate rehabilitation and research. The host community of CERCOPAN is Iko Esai which is involved in the collaborative protection of 200 km² of forest contiguous with the

Cross River National Park The Cross River National Park is a national park of Nigeria, located in Cross River State, Nigeria. There are two separate sections, Okwangwo (established 1991) and Oban (established 1988). The park has a total area of about 4,000 km2, mo ...

. At least six species of monkey are involved in the rehabilitation and conservation program, including the

endemic 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 foun ...

Sclater's guenon Sclater's guenon (''Cercopithecus sclateri''), also known as Sclater's monkey and the Nigerian monkey, is an Old World monkey that was first described by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1904 and named after Philip Sclater. It is an arboreal and diurnal ...

, Preuss's guenon and red-eared guenon. Following acting as CERCOPAN's Director since 1995, Tooze handed over to a new Director in January 2009, from which time she took on the official title of 'Founder and Trustee', heading up the board of trustees for the UK registered charity which she founded to support the conservation work in Nigeria (registered charity 1116955).

References

External links

CERCOPAN

WFN entry on Zena Tooze
Canadian conservationists Primatologists 1955 births Living people Dalhousie University alumni Canadian expatriates in Nigeria Canadian biologists {{Zoologist-stub