1. Available information on the consumption of wild meat in West and Central Africa is reviewed. We show that mammals are the prime source of bushmeat, and that ungulates and rodents make up the highest proportion of biomass extracted. 2.We present data on current knowledge of extraction patterns of wild mammals in West and Central Africa, and evidence that at current off-take levels, within the range states, mammals as bushmeat are being depleted on an unprecedented scale. Extraction rates are orders of magnitude higher there than in comparable ecosystems like the Amazon, and much less likely to be sustainable. 3. However, basic knowledge of the biology of harvestable tropical moist forest mammals, and the consequences of hunting on mammalian communities, which permits accurate estimation of maximal production rate (the excess of growth over replacement rate), is largely unavailable, and this hinders estimation of hunting quotas and sustainability. Comparisons are made with the existing information available on Amazon basin mammals and hunting patterns reported there.

Pregnancy, a chronic, natural volume-overload state, has important effects on hemodynamic and echocardiographic variables. Based on pulmonary venous flow and left ventricular inflow velocities, our results provide a standard reference concerning diastolic filling dynamics by trimester.

The Bushmeat Crisis and DevelopmentBushmeat is a development issue because many types of development decisions or actions lead to crisis. The

Bushmeat is a large but largely invisible contributor to the economies of west and central African countries. Yet the trade is currently unsustainable. Hunting is reducing wildlife populations, driving more vulnerable species to local and regional extinction, and threatening biodiversity. This paper uses a commodity chain approach to explore the bushmeat trade and to demonstrate why an interdisciplinary approach is required if the trade is to be sustainable in the future.