Nationwide abundance and distribution of African forest elephants across Gabon using non-invasive SNP genotyping
English To better know African forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ) abondance and repartition, a study was done throughout Gabon. To that end, elephant dungs were systematically collected at 18 sites across Gabon. Then, a total of 4058 dung samples were collected, from which 2370 allowed to estimate elephant density at 0.38 per km 2 . Results also showed that Gabon is a forest elephant stronghold, with a population size of 95110 and a spatial distribution covering 250782 km 2 . Furthermore, protected areas and anthropogenic pressures do not seem to be good predictors of elephant density in this study. Key words: African forest elephant, Density estimation, Gabon, Loxodonta cyclotis, Non-invasive genetic, sampling, Single nucleotide polymorphism, Spatial capture-recapture The following persons from the ANPN Cellule Scientifique were part of this study research team: S. Bourgeois, H. G. Bikang Bi Ateme, et Simira Banga Daouda. The field work took place in the following...