Satellite view of Niger River delta, Nigeria Photograph by USGS   Western Africa: Southern Nigeria Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   5,600 square miles (14,400 square kilometers) -- about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· Resources of the Delta
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Resources of the Delta

For millions of years, the Niger River has flowed south into the Gulf of Guinea, depositing layers of sediment at its mouth. This process has formed the Niger River Delta, a large forested wetland in Nigeria that is home to a diversity of species. Though the region has long been a refuge for plants and animals, it is now the subject of great controversy. That's because the same sediments which characterize this ecoregion and upon which these forests grow also hold another valued resource: oil.

Special Features

The Niger River Delta is a vast, flat region. Rainfall is high--more than 100 inches (2,500 mm) per year--and temperatures range from 64 to 91° F (18-33° C). Humidity levels are close to 100 percent throughout the year. Swamp forests grow on more than half of the delta's 8,000 square miles (20,000 sq. km). Although the swamps dry up almost completely in the dry season, they are revitalized regularly through annual flooding.

	The slender, long-bodied carnivores know as genets aren't easy to describe. They make sounds like cats, but they look a bit more like weasels. In one part of Africa, they're described as "rat-like leopards"!

Wild Side

The delta supports a diverse mosaic of forest types, each with a different assemblage of wild species. The ecoregion as a whole is home to all of Nigeria's endemic or near-endemic mammal species, including a new delta subspecies of red colobus monkey. It's also home to monkeys called Sclater's guenons, small cat-like carnivores called crested genets, small deer called black-fronted duikers, and some of southern Nigeria's few surviving elephant populations.

Cause for Concern

Large areas of swamp forest remain in the Niger Delta, with heavy fragmentation occurring on the fringes due to oil palm plantations, commercial rice farming, and wood gathering. "Bushmeat" hunting takes a toll on large mammals, particularly primates, and the rivers are heavily fished. But the greatest threat to the region is oil extraction by multinational corporations, which threatens the welfare of people and of wildlife that live here. There are no protected areas in this ecoregion.

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