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| Monkeys
of Liberia
A
Complete list of Liberia's Animals
World
Species List - Liberia
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Diana
monkey
The Diana monkey is found in
the countries of Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and
Sierra Leone. The Diana monkey lives in the upper canopy
of the forest. They eat fruits, seeds, leaves, insects,
crustaceans, spiders, scorpions, and centipedes.
They have a black head, legs,
and tail, a grey body, a red-brown rump, white neck and
breast, and a white band on the forehead. Rarely at rest, they
move gracefully through the trees, using their long legs and
slender body to best advantage. They move generally in troops
of up to twelve members and hunt during the day for fruit,
birds' eggs, and insects. To learn more about he Diana Monkeys
of West Africa, Click
here....
 Mona
Monkey
The mona guenon, is also
known as the mona monkey, and has very distinctive markings
including bold white spots along its hips and a bright white
underside that stands out from its brownish-gray body in the
dark forest canopy. The mona measures about a foot long in
body length with a tail almost twice its body length. Monas
can weigh 10 to 15 pounds.
Population: Mona guenons are
probably the most common monkey in Africa.
Habitat: Mona guenons can be
found in the tropical mangrove forests of West Africa from
Ghana to Cameroon. They are tree-dwellers, preferring to
reside in the treetops.
Food: They eat a wide variety
of fruits, plants, nuts and seeds as well as insects.
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The Liberian Mongoose
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The
Liberian Mongoose
The Liberian Mongoose is
found in Northeast Liberia. They inhabit lowland areas
and stream banks in the forest and rainforests of Liberia.
They are dark brown in color,
have a dark stripe, bordered on either side by a lighter
colored stripe, on their necks. The throat is paler in
coloration, and the legs are darker than the body.
They have long claws on their front feet, and a long, mobile
snout.
They live in small groups of
3-5 individuals. They are heavily hunted for food by the
local people. They are easily approached, making them easy
prey. They are also affected to a lesser extent by
deforestation and encroachment. They feed mainly on
earthworms and beetle larvae. They will also eat eggs and
small vertebrates.
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Chimpanzees - Pan
troglodytes
25 years ago, it
was estimated that there were 200,000 chimpanzees living in
the tropical rain forests in Liberia. Today the figure may be
only a few thousand.
One area where
you still find chimpanzees is in the Tai-Grebo-Sapo-Cestos
tropical forest complex in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia.
This moist forest complex harbors more than 8,000 chimpanzees
and covers approximately 1 million hectares.
You can also
find chimps in the mountainous forest of Mount Nimba in
Liberia
How Smart
West African Chimps Are?
Chimpanzees in a
remote West African rainforest use stones and branches as
hammers to crack open different types of nuts when foraging.
While the nuts they crack are available throughout tropical
Africa, this nut-cracking behavior has been documented only
among chimpanzees from western Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and
southern Guinea-Conakry. |
ANATOMY
Chimpanzees have very long arms (the arms are longer than the
legs), and a short body.
Hair and Skin:
Chimpanzees are covered with black hair on most of their body
(except their fingers, palms, armpits, and bottoms of their
feet). Baby chimpanzees have very pale skin in the areas that
have no hair and a white tuft of hair on the rump.
Senses:
Chimpanzees have senses very similar to ours, including
hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch.
SIZE
Male chimpanzees are larger than the females.
Chimpanzees are social
animals that are active during the day. They live in small,
stable groups of about 40-60 individuals. Smaller subgroups of
6-7 chimps stay together for a while, with the membership
changing over time.
Face:
Chimpanzees have a slight brow ridge, large ears, small
nostrils, and an elongated snout. They are capable of many
expressions. Chimpanzees have a hairless face except for a
short, white beard in both male and female adults. Some adult
females become bald.
Hands and Feet:
Chimpanzees' hands are very much like ours; they have four
long fingers plus an opposable thumb (the thumb is shorter
than the other fingers). Their feet have five toes,
including an opposable big toe. Chimpanzees can grasp things
with both their hands and their feet.
DIET
Chimpanzees are omnivores (eating plants and meat). They
forage for food in the forests during the day, eating leaves,
fruit, seeds, tree bark, plant bulbs, tender plant shoots, and
flowers. They also eat termites, ants, and small animals (they
have even been known to eat young monkeys).
Chimpanzees drink water, often by using a chewed leaf as a
sponge to sop up the water.
Grooming:
Grooming one another (cleaning the hair of another chimp) is a
major occupation among chimpanzees in a group.
INTELLIGENCE
AND TOOLS
Chimpanzees are very intelligent and can learn extremely
complex tasks.
Tools:
Chimpanzees often use tools in the wild. They have been
observed using sticks to obtain ants and termites to eat and
to scare away intruders. They also use chewed-up leaves like a
sponge to sop up water to drink. |
Liberia
contains the largest area of remaining forest in the Upper
Guinea Forest Ecosystem
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Rain
Forest
The West African rain
forests include tropical moist forests including
semi-deciduous varieties distributed across nine West
African countries -- Benin, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea,
Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Population growth exerts
enormous pressure on these forests. One impact is that the
rain forests are being destroyed for the economic benefits
of logging, the need for arable land and an increasing
demand for fuel wood and forest products.
One reason for the forest
clearing through out West Africa, including Liberia,
is to plant cash crops. Many West African countries depend
on cash crop exports. Products such as gum copal, rubber,
cola nuts, and palm oil provide a steady income revenue for
these countries.
The tropical rain forest in
Liberia contains valuable timber species, including African
mahogany and iroko (or African teak) |
| Pygmy
Hippos
What's
For Dinner?
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 Pygmy
hippos live in West Africa and are usually found in tropical
rain forests, but sometimes are seen in caves along
riverbanks. Foraging at night the pygmy hippo feeds on
leaves, grasses, aquatic plants, plant shoots, and fruit.
They live comfortably in both water and on land but are less
adapted to aquatic environments than the larger hippos.
The pygmy hippo has a
thick hide that is
greenish black on top with grayish sides and grayish white
to yellowish green under parts.
The pygmy hippopotamus was
first recorded in the late 1800's, it was first believed to
be a freak of nature but later was proven to be a distinct
species.
The pygmy hippo is a rare
animal and it is hunted for its tusk-like teeth and for its
meat. |
West
African Dwarf Crocodile
Osteolaemus tetraspis tetraspis
Habitat
West African dwarf crocodiles live in smaller bodies of
water (ponds, creeks, backwaters) throughout West Africa
including Liberia.
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 The
West African dwarf crocodile belongs to the family of
crocodiles, Crocodylidae, which contains nearly all modern
crocodilians (crocodile-like animals).
Life Cycle
Even though they may have protection while they are
small, newly hatched crocodiles must find their own food,
first eating very small prey, like insects, small frogs and
fish. If they manage to find enough to eat and avoid being
eaten themselves, they can grow as much as a foot per year
until they reach adult size.
Protective Parents
Baby crocodiles make an “urk, urk” vocalization when
they are afraid, the same call that summoned their mother to
help them from the nest. This distress call serves to summon
the mother or even other adult crocodiles to rescue them
from predators. The appearance of an outraged adult
crocodile is usually enough to persuade any creature
contemplating eating a baby crocodile to look elsewhere for
its dinner.
Dwarf Crocodile eat mainly
fish, but they also eat frogs, birds, small mammals.
They have an estimated life span of 50-100
years. |
| Frogs
of Liberia
Hairy
frogs live in West Africa, although the male frog’s “hairs”
are actually gills enabling him to breathe underwater while
mating.
The hairy frog of West
Africa has small claws on several of its toes. As the name
suggests the male of the species is covered in hair but the
reasons for this are uncertain. It may be for recognition or
camouflage. |
 The
Goliath Frog of West Africa is the largest frog. One found
in 1960 was 13.38 inches
The largest frog is the
African Giant or Goliath Frog (Conraua goliath) of
West Africa. It can grow to 30 cm.
The shy and elusive goliath
frog, is the largest known frog. It reaches a body length of
30.5 cm (12 in) and overall length from nose to toe of about
91 cm (3 ft); specimens in excess of 3.2 kg (7 lb) have been
collected.
Goliath frogs inhabit
cascading mountain streams. |
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 Rare
and endangered species of West Africa |
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Endemic
Species
- Pygmy
hippopotamus
- Zebra
duiker
- White-naped
mangabey
- Diana
monkey
- Cross
River gorilla
- Nigerian
chimpanzee
- White-breasted
guinea fowl
- Viviparous
toad
Non-endemic
but endangered species
- Forest
elephant
- Western
chimpanzee
- Drill
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Possibly
extinct species
- Miss
Waldron's red colobus
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Mt
Nimba viviparous toad, Western Nimba toad (Nimbaphrynoides
occidentalis).
Status: endangered.
Where: Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia?
Reasons: habitat loss and fragmentation.
Among the noteworthy biota
of Mont Nimba is the viviparous toad Nectophrynoides
occidentalis, which occurs in montane grasslands at
1,200-1,600 m and is the world's only known tail-less
amphibian that is totally viviparous.
Did you know?
Not all frogs and toads
have a free-living tadpole stage; some undergo direct
development, such as the African viviparous toad, Nectophrynoides
species, which produce fully formed young which are
miniatures of their parents. In some species the tadpole
stage is passed inside the egg.
Birds of
Liberia
- Gymnobucco
calvus
NAKED-FACED BARBET. Forest.
- Gymnobucco
peli BRISTLE-NOSED BARBET. Forest.
- Pogoniulus
scolopaceus SPECKLED TINKERBIRD. Forest,
savanna, woodland, thickets, farmlands.
- Pogoniulus
atroflavus RED-RUMPED TINKERBIRD.
Forest. Lowlands and mts.
Pogoniulus subsulphureus
YELLOW-THROATED TINKERBIRD. Humid forest,
edge. - Buccanodon
duchaillui YELLOW-SPOTTED BARBET. Forest
- Lybius
vieilloti VIEILLOT'S BARBET. Savanna,
thorn scrub.
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