Primatology has played a leading role in revealing the behavior, biology, evolution, and taxonomy of our closest living relatives in natural settings. Primatological field studies bring the added value of stimulating and sparking opportunities for exploration of little-known habitats, particularly in remote and difficult-to-access regions. While indigenous peoples and local communities have long understood the extraordinary diversity and shifting environments of the Congo Basin, it was only 25 years ago that foreign-trained primatologists arrived in the Ndoki Forests of Republic of Congo. The initial field surveys acted as catalysts in establishing three long-term great ape field stations that continue to serve as platforms for multidisciplinary research, collaboration, and centers for capacity building (Morgan et al. 2024). These are core values that make field stations critical to conservation (Eppley et al. 2024;Lindenmayer et al. 2012). Outputs from the Mbelï, Goualougo and Mondika field sites have had lasting benefits that go well beyond scientific results and led to significant achievements for conservation, including the creation of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP). Importantly, the NNNP is part of the Sangha Tri-National Conservation area that was designated as central Africa's first UNESCO World Heritage Site. In this Special Issue, we review some of the primate research that has been undertaken over the past 25 years in the Ndoki forest and highlight novel findings on, e.g., population abundances, factors impacting multispecies associations, biodiversity, and health. The resulting compilation shows that this research not only addresses fundamental biological questions, but also leads the field in applied conservation efforts and empowering the next generation of scholars to impact policy at both regional and global scales.
