Nyungwe Forest

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Nyungwe Forest National Park is a national park in southwestern Rwanda, located south of Lake Kivu on the border with Burundi. The park was established in 2004 and covers an area of approximately 970 km² of rainforest, bamboo, grassland, swamps, and bogs. The nearest city is Cyangugu, 54 km to the east. Mount Bigugu is located within the park borders.

[edit] Animal life

Nyungwe has a wide diversity of animal species, making it a priority for conservation in Africa. The forest is situated in a region where several large-scale biogeographical zones meet and the variety of terrestrial biomes provide a great span of microhabitats for many different species of plants and animals.

The park contains 13 different primate species (25% of Africa's total), 275 bird species, 1068 plant species, 85 mammal species, 32 amphibian and 38 reptile species. Many of these animals are restricted-range species that are only found in the Albertine Rift ecoregion in Africa. In fact, the number of endemic species found here is greater than in any other forest in the Albertine Rift that has been surveyed.

[edit] Primate species

• Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)
• Adolf Friedrich's Angola Colobus (Colobus angolensis ruwenzori)
• L'Hoest's Monkey (Cercopithecus l'hoesti)
• Silver Monkey (Cercopithecus doggetti)
• Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus kandti)
• Hamlyn's Monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni)
• Red-tailed Monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius)
• Dent's Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus denti)
• Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)
• Olive Baboon (Papio anubis)
• Grey-cheeked Mangabey (Lophocebus albigena)

[edit] References

• Nyungwe National Park. Wildlife Conservation Society. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.
• Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda. NASA Earth Observatory. Retrieved on 2006-05-25.