Bioko Red colobus (Procolobus pennantii)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 172516206

Understanding spatio-temporal patterns of bushmeat hunting on Bioko Island, through passive acoustic monitoring, to develop more efficient protection

Bushmeat trade, or the comercial hunting of wild animals, is one of the main threats to Bioko Island's diurnal primates. In collaboration with the Drexel University's Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, and the National University of Equatorial Guinea, we are working towards reducing the supply and demand for primates in Bioko. 

For the next 24 months, I will deploy an array of acoustic sensors across the Gran Caldera Scientific Reserve, one of the most pristine forest in Central Africa, and the only remaining area in Bioko that still holds all seven diurnal primate species, including the endemic Bioko red colobus  (Piliocolobus pennantii). I will use shotgun sounds to identify spatio-temporal changes in hunting patterns to predict hunter's movements and shifting hunting intensity across the Gran Caldera. This information will be used to inform concurrent monitoring and anti-poaching activities.  

By better understanding bushmeat hunting, we will be able to develop more effective conservation strategies. We hope this work will serve to halt the steady decline that Bioko's primates have suffered over the last two decades. 

Project documents

• Slvia Moka, project manager, retrieving data and changing batteries of one of the sensors in August 2019
• Pablo Owono, one of the project assistants, changing the batteries and retrieving data in August 2019
• A well used Swift acoustic sensor (August 2019)
• Deployment of acoustic sensors since 2019. Red circle: monitoring of hunting; Blue circle: monitoring of hunting and acoustic characteristics of the habitat. Diameter represents the approximate covera
• The two Swift sensors with a white cases were painted green to make them less conspicuous and avoid them being stolen
• Participants on the training workshop on the use of passive acoustic monitoring to measure hunting pressure. The workshop took place 17-18 January 2018 in Moka, Bioko Sur.
• Assistants Miguel Ángel Silochi, Silvia Moka, and Luis Miguel Maho, preparing an acoustic sensor for the initial deployment.
• From left to right: David Fernández and Orume Robinson, from the Korup Rainforest Conservation Society, Cameroon; holding the two type of acoustic sensors used in the study. Orume was invited to the




Project 172516206 location - Equatorial Guinea, Africa