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The wildlife of the Democratic Republic of the Congo includes its flora and fauna, comprising a large biodiversity in rainforests, seasonally flooded forests and grasslands. Wildlife is threatened by overhunting for bushmeat.
The country is considered one of the 17 megadiverse nations. Its rainforests harbour many rare and endemic species, such as the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Five of the country's national parks are listed as World Heritage Sites: the Garumba, Kahuzi-Biega, Salonga and Virunga National Parks, and Okapi Wildlife Reserve. All five sites are listed by UNESCO as World Heritage In Danger.
The civil war and resultant poor economic conditions have endangered much of this biodiversity. Many park wardens were either killed or could not afford to continue their work.
Fauna
The ecoregion is home to the endangered western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), the endangered eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla berengei graueri), African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), and okapi (Okapia johnstoni).
Animals native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
- Aardvark
- African brush-tailed porcupine
- African buffalo[1]
- African bullfrog
- African civet
- African clawed frog
- African dwarf frog
- African golden cat[1]
- African helmeted turtle
- African leopard
- African manatee
- African palm civet
- African rock python
- African soft-furred rat
- African softshell turtle
- African striped weasel
- African tree toad
- Allen's swamp monkey
- Angola colobus
- Aubry's flapshell turtle
- Ball python
- Banded mongoose
- Banded water cobra
- Bili ape
- Black-and-white colobus
- Black-collared lovebird
- Black mamba
- Black-necked spitting cobra
- Blue duiker
- Blue-headed wood dove
- Blue monkey
- Bohor reedbuck
- Bongo
- Bonobo
- Bushpig
- Cape bushbuck
- Cape hyrax
- Central African oyan
- Chimpanzee[1]
- Common agama
- Common duiker
- Common egg eater
- Common eland
- Congo peacock
- Congo water cobra
- Crocodile
- Dwarf crocodile
- Nile crocodile
- Slender snouted crocodile
- De Brazza's monkey
- Egyptian fruit bat
- African forest elephant
- Western gorilla[1]
- Gaboon viper
- Gallagher's free-tailed bat
- Giant eland
- Giant forest hog
- Giant otter shrew
- Goliath beetle
- Grant's zebra
- Greater cane rat
- Greater kudu
- Great Lakes bush viper
- Green bush viper
- Green mamba
- Grey parrot
- Handsome spurfowl
- Hartebeest
- Hedgehog leaf-toed gecko
- Hippopotamus[1]
- Honey badger
- Johnston's chameleon
- Katanga Mountain bush viper
- Kob
- Kordofan giraffe
- Leopard tortoise
- Lesser flamingo
- L'Hoest's monkey
- Lichtenstein's hartebeest
- Lion[1]
- Many-banded snake
- Marsh mongoose
- Monitor lizard
- Angolan white-throated monitor
- Nile monitor
- Savannah monitor
- Moustached monkey
- Northern white rhinoceros
- Okapi
- Olive baboon
- Oribi
- Pangolin
- Patas monkey
- Puku
- Red river hog
- Roan antelope
- Rock hyrax
- Rough-scaled bush viper
- Sable antelope
- Serval
- Side-striped jackal
- Sitatunga
- Southern reedbuck
- Spectral pygmy chameleon
- Spotted hyena
- Strange-horned chameleon
- Stuhlmann's golden mole
- Topi
- Tropical spiny agama
- Trumpeter hornbill
- Upemba lechwe
- Upemba mud turtle
- Warthog
- Waterbuck
- Yellow-backed duiker
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Birds
Butterflies
See also
- Centre National d'Appui au Développement et à la Participation populaire
- Vegetation and wildlife of Congo
- Acapoeta tanganicae
- Labeo simpsoni
References
External links
- A blog on bonobo research in Congo
- "Western Conglolian swamp forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- The Digitised Flora of Central Africa