Elephant Database
African Elephant Specialist Group

Congo
2016 African Elephant Status Report

All Years for Congo: 201620132007200219981995

Summary Totals for Congo

Estimates from SurveysGuesses% Known and
Possible Range
Area (km2)
Survey categoryEstimate± 95% CLFromTo
Reliable Dung Counts1,39731120.330,660
Other Dung Counts018,80140,22429.143,944
Informed Guesses65025944.36,506
Degraded Data9209203.04,588
Totals 20151,40331020,22341,738  
Totals 200677237019,44321,325  
Assessed Range56.885,698
Unassessed Range43.265,239
Total Range100150,937

Summary Totals for Congo

Data Category Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Direct Sample Counts and Reliable Dung Counts1,0863113110
Other Dung Counts023,7383,6020
Informed Guesses6052648
Other Guesses000920
Totals 20151,09224,0494,439968
Totals 200640216,9474,0300

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

 Estimates from SurveysGuessesArea
Cause of Change Estimate ± 95% CL From To% Known and PossibleTotal
Repeat Survey+471±594-7,578-1,56015.823,811
New Population+2,490±991+10,858+10,85837.055,803
Different Technique+2,324±544-2,652-2,6522.74,118
Data Degraded00000.00
Totals+5,285±1,277+628+6,64655.585,698

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+365-4,147-3210
New Population+916+11,366+7,175+540
Different Technique+1,555-1,883+100
Totals+2,837+5,335+6,864+540

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report (2007 scaling)

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+571-2,611-520
New Population+1,432+7,156+1,172+920
Different Technique+2,430-1,186+20
Totals+4,433+3,359+1,121+920

Area of Range Covered by Each Data Category (km²)

Data CategoryKnown RangePossible RangeTotal Range
Direct Sample Counts and Reliable Dung Counts26,8533,80730,660
Informed Guesses5,0591,4476,506
Other Dung Counts40,7733,17143,944
Other Guesses1,4883,0994,588
Unassessed Range14,55250,68765,239
Totals88,72662,211150,937

Congo: Elephant Estimates

Cause ofSurvey Details2 Number of Elephants Area Map Location
Input ZoneChange1TypeReliab.YearEstimate95% C.L. SourcePFS3 (km²) Lon. Lat.
+ Conkouati-Douli National ParkRSDCB2013947 180Vanleeuwe, 201423,850 11.5E 3.9S
RSDCB2013947 180Vanleeuwe, 20143,850 11.5E 3.9S
+ LefiniNPOD20076Inkamba-Nkulu & Tsoumou, 20083445 15.4E 2.5S
NPOD20076Inkamba-Nkulu & Tsoumou, 2008445 15.4E 2.5S
+ MayokoNPOE2005340Inkamba-Nkulu, 200722,290 12.6E 2.3S
NPOE2005340Inkamba-Nkulu, 20072,290 12.6E 2.3S
+ Mount Fouari/ Mavoumbou/ Nyanga complexNPDCE2005200Maisels, pers. comm., 2016c21,017 11.9E 2.8S
NPDCE2005200Maisels, pers. comm., 2016c1,017 11.9E 2.8S
+ MPD areaNPDCD201236 68Maisels, pers. comm., 2016b21,139 13.6E 2.6S
NPDCD201236 68Maisels, pers. comm., 2016b1,139 13.6E 2.6S
Ndoki-Likouala Landscape
+ Bailly Swamps NorthNPDCC2011827 884Maisels et al., 201224,210 16.8E 1.8N
NPDCC2011827 884Maisels et al., 20124,210 16.8E 1.8N
+ BatangaNPDCB2012104 234Iyenguet et al., 201221,029 17.6E 0.6N
NPDCB2012104 234Iyenguet et al., 20121,029 17.6E 0.6N
+ Lac Télé Community ReserveRSDCD2011296428Maisels et al., 201226,054 16.8E 1.8N
RSDCC2011296 652Maisels et al., 20123,299 16.8E 1.8N
RSDCD20110Maisels et al., 20122,755 16.8E 1.8N
+ Mokabi Logging Concession-DCE2003380 223Blake, 200522,669 16.7E 2.7N
-DCE2003380 223Blake, 20052,669 16.7E 2.7N
+ Nouabalé Ndoki National ParkDTDCC20112,324543Maisels et al., 201223,962 16.8E 1.8N
DTDCC2011865 456Maisels et al., 20121,266 16.8E 1.8N
DTDCC20111,459 443Maisels et al., 20122,696 16.8E 1.8N
+ Nouabale Ndoki Peripheral ZoneNPDCC20115,3452,133Maisels et al., 2012113,016 16.8E 1.8N
NPDCC20114,857 2,559Maisels et al., 20127,276 16.8E 1.8N
NPDCC2011279 271Maisels et al., 20122,515 16.8E 1.8N
NPDCC2011143 159Maisels et al., 20122,210 16.8E 1.8N
NPDCC201166 149Maisels et al., 20121,015 16.8E 1.8N
North-west
+ Djoua-IvindoNPDCC20151,311 898Allam et al., 2016111,415 13.8E 1.7N
NPDCC20151,311 898Allam et al., 201611,415 13.8E 1.7N
+ Lossi-KelleNPOD2006490Bassouama et al., 200615,051 14.2E 0.2N
NPOD2006490Bassouama et al., 20065,051 14.2E 0.2N
+ Messok-Dja Forest AreaNPDCB2013346 202Mantsila et al., 201321,457 14.5E 2.0N
NPDCB2013346 202Mantsila et al., 20131,457 14.5E 2.0N
+ Ngombe-Pikounda-Ntokou areaNPDCC20144,1431,459Maisels et al., 2014116,186 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC2014329 140Maisels et al., 2014902 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC20141,299 1,817Maisels et al., 20143,777 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC201480 92Maisels et al., 20142,147 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC2014457 380Maisels et al., 20142,523 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC2014837 339Maisels et al., 20141,624 15.9E 0.9N
NPDCC20141,141 636Maisels et al., 20145,213 15.9E 0.9N
+ Odzala Kokoua National ParkRSDCC20129,2922,206Maisels et al., 2013113,525 15.0E 0.9N
RSDCC20123,395 1,092Maisels et al., 20137,323 15.0E 0.9N
RSDCC20125,897 1,917Maisels et al., 20136,202 15.0E 0.9N
+ Ogooue-LeketiNPDCC2009200 114Maisels, pers. comm., 2016b21,025 13.8E 2.4S
NPDCC2009200 114Maisels, pers. comm., 2016b1,025 13.8E 2.4S

* Range of informed guess

1Key to Causes of Change (only tracked since 2007): DA: Different Area; DD: Data Degraded; DT: Different Technique; NA: New Analysis; NG: New Guess; NP: New population; PL: Population Lost; RS: Repeat Survey (RS ́ denotes a repeat survey that is not statistically comparable for reasons such as different season); –––: No Change

2Key to Survey Types: AC: Aerial Count, not specified; AS: Aerial Sample Count; AT: Aerial Total Count; DC: Dung Count; EX: Extrapolation from GIS; GD: Genetic Dung Count; GS: Ground Sample Count; GT: Ground Total Count; IG: Informed Guess; IR: Individual Registration; OG: Other Guess. Survey Type is followed by an indicator of survey quality, ranked from 1 to 3 (best to worst). Survey Reliability is keyed A-E (best to worst) as outlined in this table.

3PFS: Priority for Future Surveys, ranked from 1 to 5 (highest to lowest). Based on the precision of estimates and the proportion of national range accounted for by the site in question, PFS is a measure of the importance and urgency for future population surveys. All areas of unassessed range have a priority of 1. See Introduction for details on how the PFS is derived.

Note that totals for the Definite, Probable, and Possible categories are derived by pooling the variances of individual estimates, as described at http://www.africanelephantdatabase.org/reliability. As a result, totals do not necessarily match the simple sum of the entries within a given category.

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