Liberia Photograph by WWF/Agoramoorthy   Western Africa: Coastal areas of Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   79,800 square miles (206,700 square kilometers) -- about the size of Minnesota Critical/Endangered

· Life in the Tall Trees
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Life in the Tall Trees

Visit the Western Guinean Lowland Forests and you may find yourself walking beneath trees that tower as high as 196 feet (60 m) above your path. These are some of West Africa's last stands of wet, tropical forest. As you walk among these trees, you may see some of the amazing animals that live in this ecoregion, including forest elephants, chimpanzees, zebra duikers, and much more.

Special Features

This ecoregion stretches from eastern Guinea across Liberia and Sierra Leone to the Sassandra River in western Côte d'Ivoire. A few isolated mountains dot the mostly flat or undulating terrain. Temperatures range from about 59 to 91º F (15-33º C). And rainfall varies across the region and throughout the year. For example, the heaviest rain tends to fall along the coastal belt between Guinea and Liberi--about 158 inches (4000 mm) per year. But even these areas are known to go as long as four months with almost no rain at all.

	Pygmy hippopotamuses spend their days wallowing in rivers, emerging at night to graze on grasses and herbs.

Wild Side

This ecoregion boasts great biological diversity, in part because it served as a refuge for many species during the last Ice Age. The only known viable population of pygmy hippopotamus inhabits parts of this ecoregion. Diana monkeys, red colobus, olive colobus, and chimpanzees clamber up trees. Jetnik's duikers and zebra duikers amble through the understory in the company of forest elephants and white-breasted guinea-fowl, always alert for lurking leopards.

Cause for Concern

Conversion of forest to farmland and the gathering of fuelwood are the two greatest threats to the remaining forests of this ecoregion. Political strife in Sierra Leone and Liberia have reduced pressures on forests and wild species somewhat because the rural areas have been depopulated as people have fled--but the situation has also weakened management of parks and protected areas. Global demand for mahogany and other hardwoods is driving an increase in access to forests. Hunting for bushmeat provides much needed protein to many people in the region, but it also devastates wildlife populations.

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