Exploring Gabon's Nightlife

Abstract

A fraction of a second was all it took for ecologist and conservation biologist William F. Laurance to accept an invitation to investigate the creatures that emerge at night to hunt in the dense forests of tropical Gabon. Here, the continued existence of swathes of woodland that cover 80 per cent of this beautiful country are due, in part, to the protection of rich oil reserves, such as those in the 13 000-square-kilometre Gamba Complex. But with illegal loggers and bushmeat traders already threatening the forests, what will happen when the oil runs out?