A wildlife survey was carried out in Pendjari National Park of Benin in April 2000. The park covers an area of 2,660 km 2 . Larger mammals were censused along 97 parallel line transects. The transects lay 1 km apart and were 15 km long on the average. The total length of strips (effort) was 1,455 km. Count data were analysed with the « Distance » programme. Twenty species were recorded during the survey, including most of the larger mammals of West Africa, in particular bovids. The most abundant species were olive baboons (Papio anubis), western buffalo (Syncerus coffer brachyceros) and kob (Kobus kob), with respective densities of 3.06, 1.0 and 0.98 animals/km 2 . The total biomass of larger mammals was 0.63 t/km 2 (elephants : Loxodonta africana excluded) and 1.12 t/km 2 (elephants included). The carrying capacity for herbivores was estimated at 2.8 t/km 2 . Except for buffalo, roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) and hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus major), both species richness and abundance were lower than in a previous survey ten years earlier, and species such as topi (Damaliscus lunatus korrigum) and leopard (Panthera pardus) were no longer detected. The results signify the need to revise and improve current wildlife conservation and management strategies to assure long-term protection of larger mammals in Pendjari National Park.Resume. -Un recensement de la faune sauvage a ete realise dans le Pare National de la Pendjari, au Benin, en avril 2000. Ce pare a une superficie de 2660 km 2 . Les grands Mammiferes ont £te recenses le long de 97 lignes paralleles. Ces transects &aient espaces d'un kilometre et avaient en moyenne 15 km de long. La longueur totale des bandes e*tait de 1455 km. Les donnees recueillies ont 6te analysees avec le programme « Distance ». Vingt espfcces ont 6t6 identifies au cours du recensement, parmi lesquelles la plupart des grands Mammiferes d'Afrique occidental, en particulier des Bovides. Les especes les plus abondantes ont 6te Papio anubis, Syncerus coffer brachyceros et Kobus kob avec des densites, respectivement de 3,06, l et 0,98 animaux au km 2 . La biomasse totale des grands mammiferes ä l'exception des elephants etait: 0,63 t/km 2 et, avec les elephants: 1,12 t/km 2 . La biomasse d'herbivores supportable a &6 estimee ä 2,8 t/km 2 . A exception du büffle, Hippotragus equinus et Alcelaphus buselaphus major, les espfcces les plus abondantes, etaient moins nombreuses que lors d'un recensement realise 10 ans plus tot. Ni le topi, ni la panthere n'ont ete vus. Ces resultats montrent qu'il est necessaire de revoir les strategies de conservation pour assurer une protection ä long terme des grands Mammiferes du Pare National de la Pendjari.

The lion Panthera leo is Critically Endangered in West Africa and is known to occupy only four protected areas within the region. The largest population persists in the trans-boundary W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) ecosystem, in the border region of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. WAP harbors an estimated 350 individuals, or 90% of West Africa's lions. We modeled lion occupancy across WAP using systematic, vehicle-based spoor counts to assess how landscape variables related to biotic factors, management, and human impact influence lion distribution across WAP. We surveyed 1110 km of roads across WAP in 2012, obtaining 79 lion detections in 32 of our 167 15 × 15 km sampling units (naïve occupancy = 0.41). Overall occupancy ( ) was 0.71 (95% SE = 0.56-0.83) when accounting for imperfect detection (p = 0.22, 95% SE = 0.18-0.27). The best predictors of lion occupancy were numbers of permanent protected area staff and mean monthly dry season precipitation. Model-averaged estimates suggest greatest lion occupancy in the Arly and Pendjari management blocks, with lowest occupancy in the tri-national W National Park. Our results suggest that lions in WAP are equally limited by management and biotic factors, and demonstrate how unevenly distributed protection effort limits the distribution of an apex predator across a protected landscape. We strongly recommend increased funding and better protection to increase lion occupancy in WAP, most urgently in the W National Park.

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This study provides data on the past and present distribution of the red-bellied monkey, Cercopithecus erythrogaster erythrogaster, a subspecies that is endemic to Benin’s southern ecosystems. The original distribution of this subspecies was between the Couffo River and the Nigerian border, but it has since been reduced to regions degraded by intense human settlement (such as the Oueme river valley) and to some better preserved areas, such as the Lama protected forest and some sacred grove forests in wet areas. Local people participated in this research programme and, as a result, many new localities have been discovered. All of these have been in wetlands in southern Benin, mainly in sacred groves. Conservation action for this subspecies will succeed only if local people are involved in its protection.

Avian influenza virus (AIV) is an important zoonotic pathogen, resulting in global human morbidity and mortality and substantial economic losses to the poultry industry. Poultry and wild birds have transmitted AIV to humans, most frequently subtypes H5 and H7, but also different strains and subtypes of H6, H9, and H10. Determining which birds are AIV reservoirs can help identify human populations that have a high risk of infection with these viruses due to occupational or recreational exposure to the reservoir species. To assess the prevalence of AIV in tropical birds, from 2010 to 2014, we sampled 40 099 birds at 32 sites in Central Africa (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon) and West Africa (Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo). In Central Africa, detection rates by real-time RT-PCR were 16·6% in songbirds (eight passerine families, n = 1257), 16·4% in kingfishers (family Alcedinidae, n = 73), 8·2% in ducks (family Anatidae, n = 564), and 3·65% in chickens (family Phasianidae, n = 1042). Public health authorities should educate human cohorts that have high exposure to these bird populations about AIV and assess their adherence to biosecurity practices, including Cameroonian farmers who raise small backyard flocks.