Krokosua Hills Rainforest, Ghana Photograph by Claude Martin   Western Africa: Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Togo Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   73,100 square miles (189,400 square kilometers) -- about the size of Washington and Hawaii combined Critical/Endangered

· Prime Habitat for Primates
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Prime Habitat for Primates

If you spend time in the Eastern Guinean Lowland Forest, you have a chance of seeing a great diversity of primates. White-naped mangabeys, sooty mangabeys, diana monkeys, and Waldron's red colobus monkeys are among the many primates that dwell in these diverse forests. And all four species are in urgent need of protection.

Special Features

The Eastern Guinean Lowland Forest stretches from the Sassandra River in western Côte d'Ivoire to the edge of Lake Volta in Ghana. The ecoregion also extends into the Togo Hills, which lie mostly in Togo but also in parts of Ghana and Benin. The topography throughout this region is rolling, and elevations range from 160 to 1,320 feet (50-400 m) above sea level. Rainfall patterns are complex and varied, ranging from 48 to 60 inches (1,200-1,500 mm) per year in some places to as much as 80 to 100 inches (2,000-2,500 mm) per year in others. Vegetation types diversify along a distinct moisture gradient. Moist and wet evergreen forests grow in the wetter southernmost regions, moist semi-evergreen dominates further inland, and dry, semi-evergreen forests lie in the driest, northern stretches of the ecoregion.

	Sooty mangabeys display a variety of facial expressions, including a threat display of flashing their eyelids. The white eyelids contrast with their dark gray fur and create a striking appearance.

Wild Side

In addition to providing habitat for a great diversity of primates, this region harbors some of the last remaining populations of West African forest elephants. Some of the forests here are also home to rare pygmy hippopotamuses. A small population of white-breasted guinea fowl lives here, and is dependent on the open floors of primary forests for its survival. Scientists have recorded at least 120 species of butterflies here that are found only in West African forest ecoregions.

Cause for Concern

Thousands of years of human activity have left this ecoregion highly fragmented. Several protected areas are scattered throughout the region, as are a number of timber reserves that also support wildlife. But much of the rest of the region has been burned for agriculture or logged. In some places, roads have been built into the forests to get access to mahogany and other valuable hardwoods, opening up the regions to increased exploitation.

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