Batéké Plateau National Park
{{Short description|National park in Gabon}}
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Batéké Plateau National Park
| iucn_category = II
| photo =
| photo_caption =
| map = Gabon
| relief = 1
| map_alt =
| map_caption = Location within Gabon
| map_width =
| location = Haut-Ogooué Province, Gabon
| nearest_city =
| coordinates = {{coords|-2.188|14.02|region:GA-2|notes={{cite web |title=Plateaux Batéké in Gabon |publisher=protectedplanet.net |url=http://protectedplanet.net/sites/Plateaux_Bateke_National_Park |accessdate=2011-09-22 |archive-date=2014-01-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104015021/http://protectedplanet.net/sites/Plateaux_Bateke_National_Park |url-status=dead }}|display=inline, title}}
| area_km2 = 2,034
| established = 2002
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = National Agency for National Parks
| url =
}}
Batéké Plateau National Park (French: Parc National des Plateaux Batéké) is a national park on the Bateke Plateau, southeastern Gabon covering {{Cvt|2034|km2}}. Due to its purported universal cultural and natural significance, it was added onto the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on October 20, 2005.
The Bateke Plateau Forest Savanna depicts the landscape of Central Africa. This national park harbours a rich biodiversity.{{Cite web|title=Bateke Plateaux Landscape|url=https://congo.wcs.org/wild-places/bateke-plateaux.aspx|access-date=2020-09-07|website=congo.wcs.org}}
Fauna
In 2015, a single male lion was recorded in the park. Genetic analysis of his hair samples revealed that he is closely related to historical lion specimens from this area and the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, which grouped with Panthera leo melanochaita samples from Namibia and Botswana.{{cite journal |author1=Barnett, R. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Sinding, M.H. |author3=Vieira, F.G. |author4=Mendoza, M.L. |author5=Bonnet, M. |author6=Araldi, A. |author7=Kienast, I. |author8=Zambarda, A. |author9=Yamaguchi, N. |author10=Henschel, P. |author11=Gilbert, M.T. |year=2018 |title=No longer locally extinct? Tracing the origins of a lion (Panthera leo) living in Gabon |journal=Conservation Genetics |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=611–618 |doi=10.1007/s10592-017-1039-2 |pmc=6448349 |pmid=31007636}}
Commercial hunting on the plateau in order to satisfy the markets in Congo and Gabon, especially large mammals, is a significant threat to the local fauna.{{Cite web |title=Bateke Plateaux Landscape|url=https://congo.wcs.org/wild-places/bateke-plateaux.aspx|access-date=2020-09-07|website=Congo Wildlife Conservation Society}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060928164428/http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/gabon/bateke Wildlife Conservation Society]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110801020644/http://www.gabon-nature.com/ Virtual Tour of the National Parks]
- [https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2060/ Parc national des Plateaux Batéké - UNESCO World Heritage Centre] Retrieved on 2009-03-19.
{{National Parks of Gabon}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bateke Plateau National Park}}
Category:National parks of Gabon
Category:Protected areas established in 2002
Category:2002 establishments in Gabon
Category:Western Congolian forest–savanna mosaic
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