Animals in Gabon
Leopard
Panthera pardus
The leopard is represented by the black panthers supporting Gabon's coat of arms, adopted in 1963. Its national symbolism is well established, including in football, although this does not establish a separate legal designation as the national animal.
View details→Wildlife in Gabon
Gabon straddles the equator on Central Africa's Atlantic coast, with much of its population concentrated in cities such as Libreville and Port Gentil. Beyond those urban centers, rainforest connects river basins, low mountains and scattered savannas, while mangroves and lagoons link the land to the sea. This warm, humid setting gives wildlife extensive cover and water throughout the year. The longer dry season, generally from June to September, changes forest food supplies and the conditions for exploring animal habitats.
Forests have shaped livelihoods through timber, farming and the use of wild resources. That relationship also creates tensions when animals enter plantations or hunting reduces wildlife around settlements. In 2002, Gabon established a network of 13 national parks, protecting a cross section of its terrestrial and coastal environments. Lopé Okanda became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007, followed by Ivindo in 2021. Conservation now includes work with farming communities to reduce crop damage by elephants.
For visitors, Loango brings together forest walks, lagoon journeys and Atlantic beaches, while Lopé offers a contrasting landscape of grassland and forest. Ivindo draws travelers into river country and forest clearings. The wildlife follows those contrasts: apes and monkeys beneath the canopy, large mammals along forest edges, and turtles and whales off the coast.
Most Dangerous Animals in Gabon
The main risks from animals in Gabon are tied to particular situations: a large mammal surprised at close range, a river used by both people and wildlife, or crops growing beside forest. This is different from a landscape where predators routinely hunt people. The consequences of an encounter depend on distance, animal behavior and what people are doing nearby. A farmer defending crops and a person traveling along a river face different kinds of exposure.
Elephants illustrate how serious conflict can develop without predation. They enter plantations to feed, damaging crops and bringing farmers into close contact with powerful animals. Research around Ivindo documents the connection between crop availability and elephant visits. The consequences include lost food and income as well as the possibility of injury during encounters. Buffalo can also injure people at close quarters, especially when an animal feels threatened.
Rivers and lagoons bring a different set of interactions. Hippos can react strongly to nearby boats or disturbance, while crocodiles are predators capable of attacking at the water's edge. Large cats generally remain elusive, and their presence alone does not show a high rate of attacks. Apes can bite or strike during close encounters. Coastal sharks add a marine risk, but their occurrence in Gabonese waters is not evidence that attacks are common.
Top 10 Animals in Gabon
Gabon rewards wildlife watching that follows habitats rather than expecting animals to gather in open plains. At Loango National Park, elephants and buffalo can move between forest, grassland and the coast. Lagoon margins and riverbanks add places to look for large mammals, although their movements change with food and water conditions. A beach visit is therefore one part of a wider forest and wetland experience, rather than a guarantee of animals on the sand.
Apes are another major reason people travel here. Loango has a habituated gorilla group visited through a program linked to research and conservation. These visits differ from a chance encounter in dense forest: trackers follow a known group, while other forest animals remain much harder to locate. The program reports that the June to August dry season can make gorilla visits more difficult because the animals travel farther between feeding areas.
Lopé offers a different setting, with monkeys in forest beside ancient savanna, and elephants using the wider landscape. In Ivindo, forest clearings provide openings where large mammals can be observed away from the dense canopy. Parrots add sound and movement above the trees. Big cats are much less predictable: their presence is part of the forest's appeal, but seeing one is an exceptional event rather than the normal outcome of a park visit.
Buffalo
Syncerus caffer
Gabon supports a significant population of African buffaloes, particularly within its extensive network of national parks, including Lopé National Park. Here, buffaloes move between patches of forest and open savanna, taking advantage of mineral-rich clearings known as bais. Gabon's strong commitment to conservation and low human population density have helped maintain relatively healthy buffalo populations across much of the country. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Chimpanzee
Pan troglodytes
Gabon is one of the great strongholds of the central chimpanzee, with rainforest covering more than 85% of the country and few people living in it. Chimps live in protected areas such as Lopé and Loango national parks and also in logged forests. In Loango, researchers filmed chimps placing crushed insects on their own wounds and those of others, a behavior never seen before. IUCN status: Endangered.
Hippopotamus
Hippopotamus amphibius
Gabon is one of the strongholds for hippos in Central Africa, along the Ogooué River and its lagoons and in the coastal parks. Loango National Park became famous for its surfing hippos, photographed around 2000 by Michael Nichols while they played in the Atlantic waves, alongside elephants and buffalo walking on the beaches. Much of the country is still forested and lightly populated. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Leopard
Panthera pardus
Gabon, with close to 90 percent forest cover, is one of the best places for leopards in Central Africa. They live across the country, from Lopé National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site where they have been studied with camera traps, to the coastal forests and savannas of Loango. In the forest they eat small antelopes, monkeys and wild pigs. Bushmeat hunting near roads and towns is the main threat. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Western Lowland Gorilla
Gorilla gorilla gorilla
Gabon holds about 27 percent of all western lowland gorillas, the second largest share after the Republic of Congo, and much of its rainforest is still standing. In Loango National Park, visitors can walk to a group habituated by Max Planck researchers, and Kyoto University scientists follow another in Moukalaba-Doudou. Orphans rescued from hunters were released on the Batéké Plateau. IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
Mandrill
Mandrillus sphinx
Gabon is the mandrill's most important refuge and has made it its national animal. In Lopé National Park, hordes average about 620 animals and can reach 845, possibly the largest groups of any wild primate, and they cross the savanna between forest patches. The Ogooué River splits the country's mandrills into two genetic groups. Low human density and a network of 13 national parks help protect them. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
African Forest Elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis
Gabon is the last great stronghold of the African forest elephant. A DNA based survey in 2021 estimated about 95,000, probably 60 percent of the species, found in about 90 percent of the country. Lopé, Ivindo with Langoué Bai, and Loango, where elephants walk on Atlantic beaches, are the best places to see them. Yet Minkébé lost about 25,000 elephants to poachers between 2004 and 2014. IUCN status: Critically Endangered.
Serval
Leptailurus serval
Gabon is mostly covered in rainforest, which servals avoid, so they live in its savanna patches, such as the grasslands of the Batéké Plateau in the southeast and the savannas of Lopé. There they hunt rodents and birds in tall grass and along marshy streams, mostly at dusk and at night. These open areas are small, which keeps Gabon's serval population limited. IUCN status: Least Concern.
African Civet
Civettictis civetta
Gabon's largely intact rainforest makes it one of the best preserved habitats for the African civet. The species is found across most of the country, from coastal forest and mangrove edges to the rainforests of the Lopé and Minkébé areas. Low human population density and extensive protected areas have shielded much of Gabon's forest from clearance, supporting healthy populations of civets and other nocturnal carnivores. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Honey Badger
Mellivora capensis
In Gabon the honey badger lives mainly in the savanna patches and forest edges of places such as the Bateke Plateau and Lopé, since dense rainforest covers most of the country. It is an opportunistic feeder that hunts everything from scorpions to small mammals and is known for digging fast and tolerating snake venom. It is rarely seen, and Gabon's large network of national parks gives it indirect protection. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Bushbuck
Tragelaphus scriptus
Gabon's bushbucks live in the savanna and forest mosaic rather than deep rainforest. Lopé National Park and the Batéké Plateau in the southeast are the best areas, along forest edges. They are shy and hunted for bushmeat outside the parks, so they hide by day and feed mostly at dawn, dusk and night on leaves and shoots. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Aardvark
Orycteropus afer
In Gabon, the aardvark lives in the savannas that break up the rainforest, such as the Batéké Plateau in the southeast, and along forest edges in the Ogooué Ivindo and Ogooué Lolo provinces, where camera traps have recorded it in recent years. It digs into termite mounds at night. It shares these places with forest elephants, buffalo and leopards. It is shy and rarely seen. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Sea Turtle
Chelonia mydas
Gabon is famous for its leatherbacks, but green turtles also use its coast, foraging in coastal waters and nesting in smaller numbers on some of its beaches. Gabon has protected a large share of its coastal waters in a network of marine parks, making it a model for sea turtle conservation in Central Africa, although bycatch remains a concern. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Nile Crocodile
Crocodylus niloticus
In Gabon the Nile crocodile is listed for the rivers, lagoons and wetlands of the coast and the rainforest interior, where it shares the water with smaller Central African crocodiles. It is a patient hunter that can take prey as large as small antelopes. Gabon's network of national parks protects large areas of river and wetland, though hunting for bushmeat remains a pressure outside them. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Bateleur
Terathopius ecaudatus
In Gabon, the bateleur is found primarily in the savanna patches and open woodland areas of the country's interior, away from the dense equatorial forest that covers much of the country. It is not commonly recorded and is considered rare at a national level. The species relies on open terrain for its characteristic soaring flight. Classified as Endangered by the IUCN, its presence in Gabon represents the western edge of its central African range.
African Grey Parrot
Psittacus erithacus
Gabon is one of the most forested countries in Africa, with over 85 percent of its territory covered by rainforest, and it holds a significant African grey parrot population as a result. The country's relatively low human population density and extensive protected area network have helped preserve large areas of intact habitat. Gabon had legal export quotas of 250 birds per year before the CITES Appendix I listing in 2016, and illegal trapping continues to be a concern despite stronger trade controls in recent years.
Tawny Eagle
Aquila rapax
The tawny eagle is found only at the edges of its range in Gabon, in the open savanna patches of the south and east, rather than in the rainforest that covers most of the country. It feeds on small vertebrates and carrion and avoids closed forest. It is scarce here. Most records come from the savannas of the southeast, and it nests in trees at the edge of the forest. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
African Fish Eagle
Haliaeetus vocifer
The African fish eagle is resident in Gabon along the major rivers of the interior, including the Ogooué and its tributaries, which drain much of the country toward the Atlantic. It lives wherever there is open freshwater and enough fish, from rainforest rivers to coastal lagoons and estuaries, and its call is often heard across Gabon's wide wetlands, such as those of Loango. Pairs nest in tall trees by the water. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Barn Owl
Tyto alba
The barn owl is present in Gabon mainly in open farmland, savanna patches, and the outskirts of towns and villages, particularly in the coastal lowlands and areas around Libreville and the Ogooué River valley. Dense equatorial rainforest covers most of the country's interior and offers little suitable open habitat, so the species is far less widespread here than in the open savannas of neighboring countries. Where it does occur, it nests in old buildings and hollow trees.
Stork
Ciconia ciconia
Gabon receives white storks as visitors during the northern winter, when the birds travel south from their European breeding grounds. They tend to use the more open landscapes of the country, including savannas and wetland edges, rather than the dense rainforest interior. Groups forage for insects, frogs, and small animals. The white stork is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, and its presence in Gabon forms part of a continent wide wintering pattern.
Peregrine Falcon
Falco peregrinus
In Gabon, the peregrine falcon is a non-breeding visitor recorded along the Atlantic coast and over the country's extensive equatorial forests. It passes through during migration, hunting smaller birds over both forested and open areas. The coastal wetlands around the Ogooué River delta offer productive hunting grounds during its stay. Sightings are more frequent between October and March. Its IUCN status is Least Concern.
Flamingo
Phoenicopteridae (6 species)
The lesser flamingo visits Gabon outside the breeding season, and it is a scarce bird here. Records come from coastal lagoons, estuaries and mudflats along the Atlantic coast, where small groups sometimes stop to feed. The lesser flamingo, the smallest and most numerous of the flamingos, wanders widely across Africa in search of the tiny algae it eats, and it is listed as Near Threatened. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
African Manatee
Trichechus senegalensis
Gabon's extensive Atlantic coastline, mangrove systems and large rivers such as the Ogooué make it one of the more important countries for the African manatee within its range. The species inhabits estuaries, tidal rivers and freshwater stretches across much of the country. Gabon's relatively intact forest cover helps preserve water quality and riparian vegetation, though fishing pressure and incidental capture remain concerns. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
Gabon has one of the main humpback breeding grounds of the eastern South Atlantic. From July to September whales that feed in Antarctica come to its warm coastal waters to mate and give birth, and Mayumba National Park in the south and Pointe Denis near Libreville are known places to see them. In 2017 Gabon created a network of marine parks covering about a quarter of its waters. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Barracuda
Sphyraena barracuda
In Gabon the great barracuda lives along a wild Atlantic coast protected by a large network of marine parks, from Pongara near Libreville to Loango and Mayumba in the south. Adults hunt over rocky bottoms and in open water, and juveniles shelter in the lagoons and mangroves of the coast. It is caught by artisanal fishers and it is also hooked by sport anglers who come to Gabon's coast for its big tarpon. IUCN status: Least Concern.
Tiger Shark
Galeocerdo cuvier
The tiger shark is one of the large sharks of the coast of Gabon, where it hunts over the continental shelf and comes close to shore at night. Gabon protects about a quarter of its sea in marine parks. Like other big sharks in West Africa, it is heavily fished by artisanal fleets, and very little is known about how many remain. Bites on people along this coast are almost unknown. IUCN status: Near Threatened.
Bull Shark
Carcharhinus leucas
The bull shark is one of the large sharks of the coast of Gabon. Its nurseries are the lagoons and estuaries of the coast, such as the Komo estuary near Libreville and the lagoons of Loango: young sharks spend their first years there, in brackish water where few large predators go. Gabon protects about a quarter of its sea in marine parks. Adults hunt close to the beaches, and many end up in the nets of artisanal fishers, who sell them fresh, smoked or dried. IUCN status: Vulnerable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals live in Gabon?
Animals in Gabon include the african forest elephant, western lowland gorilla, chimpanzee, mandrill, leopard and african grey parrot. Rivers and lagoons support hippopotamuses and crocodiles, while the Atlantic coast adds sea turtles and humpback whales.
What is the national animal of Gabon?
The black panther is the animal most strongly associated with Gabon's national symbols. The coat of arms has two black panthers, and the football team is known as Les Panthères. The site represents this symbol with the leopard; a black panther is a dark form of that cat, not a separate species.
Can you see gorillas in Gabon?
Yes. Loango National Park has a habituated group of western lowland gorillas visited through a research and tourism program involving the park agency and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Gorilla watching takes place in forest, and walking conditions and the group's movements vary with the season.
Are there elephants on the beaches in Gabon?
Yes. African forest elephants sometimes use beaches in Loango National Park, where rainforest, grassland, lagoons and ocean lie close together. They also spend time inside the forest, so photographs of elephants beside the surf show a real behavior without making it a guaranteed sighting on every visit.
Where can you see mandrills in Gabon?
Lopé National Park is a well known destination for seeing mandrills in their natural forest habitat. Its mix of forest and savanna differs from the coastal wetlands of Loango. Mandrills move through the forest in groups, and tracking depends on their movements rather than a fixed viewing point.
Researched and written by Juan Pablo. Sources: IUCN Red List, scientific literature and regional field guides. Last updated: .