two French scientists looking for leopards in the Taï forest

Two French researchers are going to spend a month within 500,000 hectares of primary vegetation, in the Taï rainforest, Ivory Coast. Marine Drouilly, specialist in carnivorous animals, is regional coordinator of the NGO Panthera, Robin Horion, biological engineer. They are accompanied by Ivorian forest guards and have the task of studying leopards. “We are the first team to carry out real, long-term monitoring of all leopard populations in West Africa”, explains Marine Drouilly. The leopard is a discreet and solitary animal. If it is easy to come across it in the reserves of southern Africa, it is a miracle in West Africa.

Adapt to the rhythm of the leopard

To study it, researchers walk more than 10 km a day and analyze each clue. They also post cameras in the forest. Leopards are detected and filmed, then each individual is counted and identified. In total, the researchers traveled thousands of kilometers and installed more than 600 cameras in Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, always accompanied by local eco-guards.

The leopard lives and hunts mainly at night, researchers must adapt to its rhythm. “If we saw him all the time, we would be tired of seeing him. That’s really the beauty of this job, to look for it and to have the chance or not to find it”, says Robin Horion. A long-term task for a few seconds of images, but oh so precious: thanks to them, researchers are improving scientific knowledge of leopards and their ecosystem.