CAPTION

CONGO'S RAINFOREST

The Congo region has long conjured up thoughts of pygmies, mythical beasts, dreadful plagues, and cannibals. It is a land made famous by adventurers of the nineteenth century (Stanley and Livingstone) as well as its wildlife.

The Congo rainforest is the second largest contiguous block of rainforest in the world after the Amazon. Six nations -- Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon -- share the 1.5 million square mile Congo basin. Over 10,000 animal species are known to live in the area.

The Congo is one of the world's most threatened ecosystems. Commercial logging, clearing for subsistence agriculture, and widespread civil strife has devastated forests, displaced forest dwellers, and resulted in the expansion of the "bushmeat" trade.

Satellite image of the region

AFRICAN RAINFOREST PHOTOS

Male Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx)

Baby gorilla (Gorilla gorilla)

In search of gorillas in Bwindi

(Uganda)

African slender-snouted crocodile, Cocodrilo hociquifino africano

Rainforest frog in leaf litter

Rain forest along the Mpivie river in Gabon

(Gabon)

Forest elephant heading toward the jungle in Loango National Park

(Gabon)

Male silverback gorilla standing tall

Blue and green butterfly

Purple heron in flight

Forest elephant in Gabon

African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus) on forest edge

Malachite Kingfisher (Alcedo cristata)

Young lowland gorilla

(Gabon)

Red duiker in the Bwindi rainforest

(Uganda)

Hippo bearing its teeth at Iguela in a lagoon bordering Loango National Park in Gabon

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect, an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region. Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.