Human settlement threatens spectacle of life in Ivory Coast rain forest

May 6, 1997
Web posted at: 5:11 p.m. EDT (2111 GMT)

From Correspondent Gary Strieker

TAI NATIONAL PARK, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- In the rain forest, the higher forms of life are usually found high in the trees -- always heard, but often hard to see.

"Up there are the Diana monkeys," says Mandy Korstjens of the Tai Monkey Project. "You can hear them all the time, calling to each other."

But there is something unusual in the canopy of the Tai forest -- seven different species of monkeys live here in harmony.

Each kind of monkey has its own society and its own feeding habits, but here they associate together reasons scientists are just beginning to understand.

"Diana monkeys have really good calls against all predators," says Korstjens, explaining why colobus and kombeli monkeys often choose to travel with them.

For those studying primate behavior, there's nowhere better for field observation than the Tai National Park in the Ivory Coast, the largest remaining stretch of continuous rain forest in West Africa.

Endangered forest

In a country where commercial loggers and peasant farmers are steadily wiping out remaining forests, the park is a protected sanctuary for wild animals and plants that could soon disappear in other areas.

But this sanctuary faces a growing danger not just from poachers finding easy targets in the abundant wildlife here, but even more seriously from expanding human settlements on the boundaries of the park.

For people who desperately need more land to plant crops, the Tai forest looks like a vast and empty territory just waiting for the farmer's plow.

In a poor developing country like Ivory Coast, it's hard for many to understand why a place like this should be protected. People see no economic benefit. And in the years to come, with an even bigger human population demanding more agricultural land, it might be politically impossible for any government to continue protecting this forest.

The outlook might be brighter if the park attracted large numbers of tourists, but so far tourism is barely developed here. And there's no indication this park will ever generate enough earnings to satisfy skeptics.

Still, those who work in the park say more people now understand the importance of protecting it -- and with more education, that understanding will increase.

For now, the Tai forest is a source of unending discovery for scientists. and a refuge for a dazzling spectacle of life.

 

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• Ivory Coast

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