White-naped Mangabey
Cercocebus atys lunulatus (Temminck, 1853)
CR A2cd

The white-naped mangabey was at one time widely distributed in forests from the Sassandra River in Côte d’Ivoire into western Ghana, perhaps as far east as the Volta River. In the 1950s it seemed to be relatively common and was considered a crop pest. In the early 1970s it was seen during systematic surveys carried out in the Bia and Ankasa forests of western Ghana. However, surveys and systematic censuses carried out in the 1990s indicate that this subspecies is now very rare. It was neither seen nor heard in Bia, detected in only four of 14 forests surveyed in western Ghana (including the Ankasa/Nini-Suhien Conservation Area and Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve), none were found in surveys of five forests in Côte d’Ivoire near its border with Ghana, and only a single group was seen in Marahoue National Park of central Côte d’Ivoire, where this primate appears to be rare. No reliable estimates of the white-naped mangabey population can be made, but its distribution now seems to be highly fragmented. Certainly it has declined precipitously in the last 30 years and it is likely that only a few thousand remain, if not less. Hunting seems to be the greatest threat to its survival, although habitat destruction has seriously fragmented its population.