CIRMF - CIRMF receives an award for conservation

November 29, 2010

In late October 2010, two young researchers (Peggy Motsch and Jeremy Leclercq) presented the ECOSOL Project at the XXIII annual Conference of the Francophone Society of Primatology (SFDP), which took place at the Primate Centre in Aix-en-Provence, France.

On this occasion, two items were presented to promote the project and the achievements:

 - A poster entitled “Reassessment of the range of sun-tailed monkeys in Gabon (Cercopithecus solatus)” presented by J. Leclercq (research assistant at CIRMF)

 - A slide show entitled “Degree of terrestriality in the sun-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus solatus)” presented by P. Motsch (project coordinator and researcher at CIRMF).

Following the conference, SFDP officials congratulated the CIRMF for its involvement in the conservation of this remarkable species, and praised the young researchers for their efforts and for having conducted 18 months of excellent research on this ambassador of Gabon's biodiversity.

The prize “Franck Lefèvre,” a tribute to Lefèvre’s devotion to the cause of primates, was awarded to the young researchers in recognition of their presentations and the overall progress of the project and to ensure its sustainability. P. Motsch and J. Leclercq thanked the team at the CIRMF Primate Centre who participated in this first phase of the project, in particular Dieudonné Oloussou, Rodrigo Aleki and Dimitri Mboulou, as well as the Primate Centre veterinarians and researchers.

This award honours the CIRMF and provides hope that more such conservation projects will be conducted in Gabon to protect its outstanding natural heritage.