bushmeat:african apes

Bush Meat : African Apes

The African people , particularly those who live in and near forest areas , have been eating meat of wild animals or bushmeat for centuries They hunted for subsistence , as bushmeat was a main source of protein in the forest . But as Africa 's forests increasingly become more accessible through urbanization , the hunting for bushmeat in West and Central Africa is now developing into an enormous and extremely profitable commercial trade . In fact , bushmeat is now being exported to and sold in underground markets in the United States and Europe

, where bushmeat is treated as a luxury food item like caviar or shark meat

With the increasing demand for bushmeat in and out of Africa and the growing trade that supplies it , bushmeat hunting is now the greatest threat to Africa 's great ape population . Meats from chimpanzees gorillas and bonobos may only be a small proportion in the bushmeat trade , but because these great apes reproduce more slowly than other mammals the hunting puts them in danger of extinction . The absence of parent apes to nurture their young also poses a risk to the great ape population . Young orphaned apes , because they still don 't have much meat in them to eat , are being sold as pets . Conservationists argue that unless the bushmeat trade is stopped there would be no more viable great ape population within 50 years

There are three African great apes : bonobos , chimpanzees and gorillas All three are now endangered species . The subsequent ape population estimates provided here , unless otherwise stated , are from 1996 figures .Bonobos can only be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and were estimated to be 10 ,000-25 ,000 in numbers

Western chimpanzees , estimated to be 12 ,000 , could still be found in Guinea , Sierra Leone , Liberia , Cote d 'Ivoire , Mali , Ghana and Senegal This sub-species of chimpanzees are now extinct in Gambia , Guinea Bissau , Burkina Faso , Togo and Benin . The central chimpanzee population was estimated to be 80 ,000 . They can still be found in Gabon , Congo (Brazzaville , Cameroon , Central African Republic , Equatorial Guinea Nigeria and Angola (Cabinda enclave only . The last sub-species of the chimpanzee is the eastern chimpanzee and could be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Uganda , Tanzania , Burundi , Rwanda and Sudan . Their population was estimated to be 13 ,000

There are also three sub-species of the gorilla : the western lowland gorilla , the eastern lowland gorilla and the mountain gorilla . The western lowland gorilla , with an estimated population of 110 ,000 , live in the states of Gabon , Equatorial Guinea , Congo (Brazzaville Cameroon , Central African Republic , Nigeria and Angola . The eastern lowland gorilla , meanwhile , could only be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo . Its population is estimated to range from 8 ,700-25 ,500 in 1998 . Lastly , the mountain gorilla is the fewest of all the great apes . There are only about 600 of them and they could be found in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Rwanda and Uganda

Rose (1998 ) had cited various studies...