Country Area - 342,000 km²
Range Area - 150,937 km² (44%)
Protected Range - 21%
Information Quality Index (IQI) - 0.10
CITES Appendix - I
Listing Year - 1990
Congo probably still holds Central Africa’s second largest number of forest elephants, although they are increasingly threatened by poaching and human encroachment. Almost all of Congo’s elephants occur in forest areas in the north of the country, with smaller numbers on the Atlantic coast, and along the Gabonese border to the west. Elephants have been almost totally eliminated from the savanna-forest mosaic of the rest of the country.
The construction and upgrading of access roads for national transport and logging purposes, particularly the surfacing of the road linking Ouesso and Brazz-aville in 2013, which runs through core elephant range, is likely to have a negative impact on elephant populations. This is because forest elephants, which tend to avoid roads, get compressed into smaller and smaller tracts of relatively remote forests (Blake et al., 2001, 2007, 2008). Some logging concessions have received Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for adopting conservation-friendly measures (Morgan et al., 2013) and in contrast to other parts of Central Africa, some of these forest concessions in Congo hold significant numbers of elephants.
The government of Congo signed co-management agreements with the Wildlife Conservation Society for Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in 2014 (WCS, 2014) and with African Parks Network for Odzala-Kokoua National Park in 2010 (African Parks, n.d.-a).
In recent analyses of seizure data in ETIS, prepared for CITES, the Republic of Congo has been identified as a country with a worrying involvement in illegal ivory trade (CITES Secretariat, 2012; Milliken et al., 2013, 2016). The Republic of Congo was requested by the CITES Standing Committee, at its 65th meeting, to prepare a National Ivory Action Plan. Congo submitted its National Ivory Action Plan to CITES in 2015, which is now in the process of being implemented (CITES, n.d.-a). In April 2015, Congo destroyed its entire national ivory stockpile of 4.7 tonnes (Smith, 2015).
The estimated number of elephants in areas surveyed in the last ten years in Congo is 6,057 ± 1,222 at the time of the last survey for each area. There may be an additional 20,924 to 26,942 elephants in areas not systematically surveyed. These guesses likely represent a minimum number, and actual numbers could be higher than those reported. Together, this estimate and guess apply to 85,698 km², which is 57% of the estimated known and possible elephant range. There remains an additional 43% of the estimated range for which no elephant population estimates are available.
Since the AESR 2007 there has been a substantial apparent increase in both estimates and guesses. However, this is largely as a result of many new areas having been surveyed.
A dung count of Nouabalé Ndoki NP was conducted in 2011 giving an estimate of 2,324 ± 544 (Maisels et al., 2012) and this replaces the estimate of 3,032 ± 755 from 2003 (Blake, 2005). The 2003 survey only covered the park and a small buffer zone to the east, while the 2011 survey included a far larger area of neighbouring logging concessions; the estimate for the entire area was 8,792 (6,651-11,622) (Maisels et al., 2012). A previous survey in 2006 was not included in the AESR 2007, but provided an estimate of 11,076 elephants (8,223-14,920) for the larger area (Stokes et al., 2010).
The estimate of 380 (239-602) (Blake, 2005) from 2003 for the Mokabi logging concession to the north of Nouabalé Ndoki NP has been retained but degraded due to age. A 2006 estimate published in 2010 indicated only 59 elephants, but this data could not be included in this report because of its late receipt.
The Bailly Swamp North and Nouabalé Ndoki peripheral zones are recorded as new populations with estimates of 827 ± 656, and 5,345 ± 2,133 respectively from the 2011 count (Maisels et al., 2012). The range map has been modified, with a new area of known range to the south-west and south-east of Lac Télé, and some areas of possible range in the east.
The 2011 survey gave an estimate of 296 (92-948) for the Lac Télé Community Reserve (Maisels et al., 2012) which replaces an estimate of 316 from 2004 (Iyenguet et al., 2007).
A dung count conducted in the Batanga area just to the east of Lac Télé Community Reserve in 2012 (Iyenguet et al., 2012) gave an estimate of 104 (32-338) compared to an earlier estimate of 73 elephants (20-268) (Malanda et al., 2008). In the AESR 2007 this area was recorded as possible range and is now known range. There was no estimate for this area in the AESR 2007 so this is recorded as a new population.
A **dung count **of Odzala-Kokoua NP conducted in 2012 gave an estimate of 9,292 (7,468- 12,357) (Maisels et al., 2013b) of which approximately 65% were in the southern sector. This replaces a 2005 estimate of 13,545 ± 3,252 (Hart, 2006a). However a reanalysis of the 2005 results gave an estimate of 7,460 (5,738-9,705) and there was no significant change between 2005 and 2012. The area of known range to the south of Odzala has been reduced (Maisels, pers. comm., 2016a).
Elephants also occur in the Ngombe Forestry Concession and the Ntokou-Pikounda National Park
to the east of Odzala-Kokoua, which were first surveyed in 2007. Based on a dung count which was carried out in the Ngombe landscape in 2014 (Maisels et al., 2014b), the elephant population is estimated at 4,143 (2,994-5,731). In 2007 the estimate was 4,992 (3,192-7,802) (Maisels et al., 2014). This has been recorded as a new population and the area of known range extended accordingly.
On the basis of a dung count from 2006 (Bassouama et al., 2006), which was not recorded in the AESR 2007, it has been suggested (Maisels, pers. comm., 2016d) that there might be approximately 490 elephants in the Lossi-Kelle area to the south-west of Odzala-Kokoua NP and this is also recorded as a new population.
A dung count was carried out in 2013 in the Messok-Dja area to the north of Odzala-Kokoua NP which gave an estimate of 346 (202-604) (Mantsila et al., 2013) as a new population. Most elephant signs were observed in the extreme north-east of the area. Part of this area has been changed from known to possible range.
The first dung count of Djoua-Ivindo area was carried out in 2015, and gave an estimate of 1,311 (778-2209) elephants (Allam et al., 2016). This is recorded as a new population and the range changed from mostly doubtful to ** known**.
There is also a population of elephants on the Batéké Plateau in the area straddling the Congo-Gabon border, referred to as Ogooue-Leketi. Transect surveys in 2010 gave an estimate of 200 (116-345) (Maisels, pers. comm., 2016b), while individual observations in clearings suggest that there are least 285 elephants (Inkamba-Nkulu et al., 2015). There is a guess of 36 elephants from 2012 from the neighbouring MPD iron mine concession area. Neither of these areas had estimates in the AESR 2007 so are entered as new populations.
There are new guesses for populations in the south-west close to the Gabon border which had not previously been included in the AED. These include Mayoko for which there is a guess of 340 from 2005 based on a reconnaissance survey (Inkamba-Nkulu, 2007), and the Mount Fouari complex for which there is a guess of 200 from 2005 (Maisels, pers. comm., 2016c).
A dung count was carried out in Conkouati-Douli National Park in 2013 giving an estimate of 947 ± 180 (Vanleeuwe, 2014), which replaces an estimate of 772 ± 370 from 2005 (Vanleeuwe, 2006).
An area that was formerly recorded as possible range to the south-east of Conkouati, adjoining the Cabinda enclave in DRC has been changed to non-range since it is mostly savanna and has been heavily affected by hunting (Maisels, pers. comm., 2016d).
While much of the southern part of Congo consists of savanna, there are gallery forests along the watercourses in the Lefini Forest Reserve north of Brazzaville, and it is known that there are at least six elephants in this area (Inkamba-Nkulu & Tsoumou, 2008). This has been changed from doubtful range to known range.