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The forest hingeback tortoises Kinixys homeana and Kinixys erosa are two of the most declining African chelonians. Although the population size trends of these species have received attention in some specific areas of West Africa, an overall perception of their declining trajectories are still largely unexplored. We used interviews with rural people (hunters, farmers and snail gatherers) in order to explore the general perception that these experienced people have on the population trends of these threatened tortoises. Overall, we interviewed over 2000 people in three West African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Togo and Nigeria), which mostly supported the notion that these tortoises are heavily declining in Togo and Nigeria, but less so in Côte d'Ivoire. In addition, many respondents suggested that snail gatherers are the main providers of tortoises to the bushmeat trade. Indeed, our market surveys revealed that, in Nigeria, there was a significantly positive correlation between number of wild snails traded by individual sellers and numbers of sold tortoises in their 'shops'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lygodactylus conraui is the only green gecko species occurring in West Africa, and is also one of the smallest gecko species of the African continent. Here, some aspects of the natural history of this species are documented for Rivers State, southern Nigeria. In total, 108 L. conraui individuals were observed in 1996-2016 in southern Nigeria. Individuals of this species were mainly observed at originally forested sites that were heavily altered by human inclusion. In southern Nigeria, L. conraui may be a pioneer species that quickly colonises microhabitats at ecotonal sites of recently deforested or rapidly re-growing forest areas. In each site, the number of observed lizards was significantly positively influenced by the percent of available shade within each habitat type. These geckos were found most commonly at 0.8-3.2 m height. Their activity was especially concentrated during the wet season months. Mean distance between individuals in each demes was 1.35 m (range 0.70-3.2 m). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents ecological data for the snake Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia found in southern Nigeria. Highlights of the study include the significantly larger body size attained by females when compared to males, the peaking of above-ground activity during the wet months and the preponderance of snakes that were captured in agricultural lands such as plantations and farmlands. It also compared the diet composition of both sexes.

The article focuses on the possible effects of climate change on the high- and low-abundance populations of the nose-horned viper Bitis (B) nasicornis and the Gaboon viper Bitis gabonica in Nigeria. The five climatic variables that affect the populations of B. gabonica were precipitation of driest month, precipation of driest quarter, annual mean temperature, mean temperature or driest quarter and mean temperature of warmest quarter. Delta, Rivers and Akwa-Ibom States were the most ideal areas in southern Nigeria for high-abundance populations of Gaboon vipers in terms of climate. The future ideal areas for the high-abundance populations of nose-horned viper are western Nigeria, south-east of Nigeria and the nearby Cameroon.

The article presents a study which investigated the daily and seasonal activity patterns and habitat selection of the African fire skink at a coastal site in southeastern Nigeria. It is stated that the wet season brought more above-ground activities regardless of their availability in the field and showed a preference for swamp forest and lowland forest patches. The authors concluded that high ambient temperatures around midday affected bi-modal diel activity patterns forcing the skinks to rest inactive inside their burrows.