The Cameroonian Highlands forests are a montane tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Cameroon and Nigeria. Mount McKinley in Alaska has one of the largest visible base-to-summit elevation differences anywhere A mountain is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. ... Tropic wet forests in the World Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, also known as tropical wet forests, are a tropical and subtropical forest biome. ... An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ...

Setting

The Cameroonian Highlands forests extend across the Cameroon Highlands, covering an area of 38,000 square kilometers (14,700 square miles) in eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. The ecoregion lies above 900 meters elevation, and is surrounded at lower elevations by the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests at the southern end of the range, and by forest-savanna mosaic along the central and northern ends of the range; the Cameroon Highlands form the boundary between the Guinean and Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic ecoregions. The Cameroon Highlands are a group of mountain ranges of west-central Africa. ... The Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of west-central Africa. ... Forest-savanna mosaic is a transition zone between the tropical moist broadleaf forests of equatorial Africa and the drier savannas and open woodlands to the north and south of the forest belt. ... The Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic is a forest and savanna ecoregion of central Africa, part of the belt of transitional forest-savanna mosaic that lie between Africas equatorial forests and the tropical dry forests, savannas, and grasslands that lie to the north and south. ...

Flora

The vegetation varies with elevation. Submontane forests extend from 900 to 1800 meters elevation. Above 1800 meters elevation are distinct montane forests and patches of montane grassland, bamboo forest, and subalpine grasslands and shrublands. The ecoregion is characterized by the presence of afromontane species, which have an archipelago-like distribution across the highlands of Africa. Typical afromontane species are Nuxia congesta, Podocarpus latifolius, Prunus africana, Rapanea melanophloeos, and Syzygium guineense bamendae. Afromontane is a term used to describe the plant and animal species common to the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. ... Binomial name Podocarpus latifolius (Thunb. ...

Fauna

The ecoregion is home to a number of endemic species, along with several more that are also found in the nearby Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests ecoregion. In biology and ecology endemic means exclusively native to a place or biota, in contrast to cosmopolitan or introduced. ...

Seven species of birds are strictly endemic: the Bamenda apalis (Apalis bamendae), Bangwa forest warbler (Bradypterus bangwaensis), white-throated mountain-babbler (Kupeornis gilberti), banded wattle-eye (Platysteira laticincta), Bannerman's weaver (Ploceus bannermani), Bannerman's turaco (Tauraco bannermani), and Mt. Kupe bushshrike (Telophorus kupeensis). Fourteen species are endemic to the Cameroon Highlands forests and Mt. Cameroon: Andropadus montanus, Phyllastrephus poliocephalus, Laniarius atroflavus, Malaconotus gladiator, Cossypha isabellae and the subspecies Cisticola chubbi discolor (sometimes considered a separate species C. discolor). Nine more montane endemic species are shared with Mt. Cameroon and Bioko: Psalidoprocne fuliginosa, Andropadus tephrolaemus, Phyllastrephus poensis, Phylloscopus herberti, Urolais epichlora, Poliolais lopezi, Nectarinia oritis, Nectarinia ursulae, and Nesocharis shelleyi.

Eleven small mammal species are endemic to the ecoregion: Eisentraut's striped mouse (Hybomys eisentrauti), the African wood mouse Hylomyscus grandis, Mount Oku mouse (Lamottemys okuensis), Mittendorf's striped grass mouse (Lemniscomys mittendorfi), two brush-furred mouse species (Lophuromys dieterleni and L. eisentrauti), Oku mouse shrew (Myosorex okuensis), Rumpi mouse shrew (M. rumpii), western vlei rat (Otomys occidentalis), Hartwig's soft-furred mouse (Praomys hartwigi), and Isabella's shrew (Sylvisorex isabellae).

The ecoregion is home to several endangered primates, including the Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), an endemic subspecies of Western Gorilla, Mainland Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus leucophaeus), Preuss's Red Colobus (Pilocolobus preussi), and Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Families 15, See classification A primate (L. prima, first) is any member of the biological order Primates, the group that contains all the species commonly related to the lemurs, monkeys, and apes, with the latter category including humans. ... Trinomial name Gorilla gorilla diehli (Matschie, 1904) The Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is a subspecies of the Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) that can be found on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon, in both tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests. ... Binomial name Gorilla gorilla Savage, 1847 Subspecies G. g. ... Trinomial name Mandrillus leucophaeus leucophaeus (F. Cuvier, 1807) The Mainland Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus leucophaeus) is a subspecies of the endangered Drill. ... Binomial name Pan troglodytes (Blumenbach, 1775) distribution of Common Chimpanzee. ...

Nine species of reptiles and 40 species of amphibians are endemic to the ecoregion.

External link

• Cameroonian Highlands forests (World Wildlife Fund)