Satellite view of the Niger River delta, Nigeria Photograph by USGS   Western Africa: Southern Nigeria Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   8,000 square miles (20,700 square kilometers) -- about the size of Massachusetts Critical/Endangered

· A Dwindling Treasure
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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A Dwindling Treasure

Bounded by two ancient rivers, the Cross-Niger Transition Forest was once filled with a diversity of tropical forest and savanna-woodland habitats. Today, however, it is one of the most densely populated places on the African continent, and much of the original rain forest has been replaced by secondary grassland. The ecoregion can now be described as a patchy assortment of remnant forest, tall grasses, secondary thicket, and secondary forest. Despite the degradation of this habitat and the bustling human population in the region, with as many as 500 people per square kilometer in some areas, small patches of protected habitat do support rare species such as the crested chameleon and Sclater’s monkey.

Special Features

The low and undulating landscape of the Cross-Niger Transition Forest ecoregion is bordered by both the Cross and Niger Rivers. Historically, these rivers have served to inhibit the movement of many species in and out of this ecoregion, including small reptiles and mammals. Near the coast, the region is extremely wet, with as much as 118 inches (3000 mm) of rainfall each year. This heavy precipitation once supported thriving tropical rain forests and rich woodlands, but the same area today is filled mostly with grasslands, due to frequent burnings for agriculture and other human uses. Scientists think that in the absence of these fires, much of the ecoregion would revert to forest.

	Elephants use their tusks for many tasks, the most frequent being digging for minerals around water holes.

Wild Side

Tall gamba grass mixed with stab grass, and fire-hardy gnarled trees fill the grassland habitat of the Cross-Niger Transition Forest ecoregion. The broad canopies of the wild custard apple trees mix with the economically important Afzelia and ron palm trees. Occasionally found in these and other forest trees are crested chameleons, lizards that grow to be about a foot in length and have an unusual looking "pinched sailfin" ridge along their backs. These chameleons are distributed throughout West Africa and are prized by the international pet trade. Graceful mona monkeys and endemic Sclater’s monkeys forage here in small groups. Elephants and antelopes were once widely distributed throughout this ecoregion, but today only a scattered few remain. The red-brown bushbuck shelters in dense thickets, while small blue duikers nibble on abundant fruit dropped onto the forest floor by the monkeys and birds overhead.

Cause for Concern

Over thousands of years, the farming practices of local people in this ecoregion have transformed the landscape from forest to savanna. The few protected habitats here are highly fragmented by the surrounding farmland and by cities such as Port Harcourt, which is the center of the oil industry. Most of the rain forest has been destroyed for farming. And with continuing urbanization, the pressures on the Cross-Niger landscape continue to grow.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.