Primates of the Kilimi Area, Northwest Sierra Leone

Abstract

A census was conducted of the primates of the Kilimi region of northwest Sierra Leone, part of a proposed National Park, between November 1981 and June 1982. Although largely composed of savanna woodland, Kilimi included riverine forest along the Kolenten River as well as numerous small deciduous forest remnants, and these forests sustained populations of Cercocebus torquatus, Cercopithecus campbelli, Cercopithecus petaurista, Cercopithecus sabaeus, Colobus badius, Colobus polykomos, Papio papio, and Pan troglodytes. Swidden agriculturalists living in the area continued to exert severe pressure on the primates by felling these forests, however, leaving the future of the primate populations in doubt unless farming is controlled.