| Western Chimpanzee[1] | |
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| Subspecies: | P. t. verus
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| Pan troglodytes verus Schwarz, 1934
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The Western Chimpanzee, or West African Chimpanzee,[2] (Pan troglodytes verus) is a subspecies of the Common Chimpanzee. It inhabits western Africa, mainly in Côte D'Ivoire and Guinea but with populations in surrounding countries.
Etymology
Pan is derived from the Greek god of fields, groves, and wooded glens, Pan. 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 for 'true', and was given to this subspecies in 1934 by Ernst Schwarz.[3] Originally Schwarz classified it as Pan satyrus verus.[3]
Classification
The Western Chimpanzee is a subspecies of the Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), along with the Central Chimpanze (P. t. troglodytes), the Nigeria-Cameroon Chimpanzee (P. t. vellerosus), and the Eastern Chimpanzee (P. t. schweinfurthii).
Distribution and habitat
The population of the Western Chimpanzee once spanned from southern Senegal all the way east to the Niger River.[4][2] Today, the largest populations are found in Côte D'Ivoire[4] and in Guinea.[2] Other populations survive in Liberia and Sierra Leone; in Mali, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); and in Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).[2][4] The IUCN is uncertain of the Western Chimpanzee's presence in Nigeria.[2] Relict populations live in Ghana and Senegal; in Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissau, according to the IUCN; and in Mali, according to the WWF.[2][4] The subspecies is extinct in the wild in the Gambia, and possibly Benin, Burkina Faso, and Togo.[2][4]
Conservation status
The IUCN lists the Western Chimpanzee as an endangered species on their Red List of Threatened Species.[2] There are an estimated 21,300 to 55,600 individuals in the wild.[2] The primary threat to the Western Chimpanzee is habitat loss,[2] although it is also used as bushmeat.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Western chimpanzee". Panda.org. World Wide Fund for Nature. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Template:IUCN2008
- ^ a b Angela Meder (December 1995). "Men who named the African apes". Gorilla Journal (11). Germany. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Western chimpanzee - Population & Distribution". Panda.org. World Wide Fund for Nature. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2009.