Credit: J. OONK

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is to establish the world's largest protected area for great apes. Larger than the state of Massachusetts, the Sankuru reserve is targeted to save bonobos (Pan paniscus; pictured), one of the two species of chimpanzee.

An estimated 10,000 bonobos remain and are found only in the Congo. The apes are often hunted for bushmeat, and conservation efforts fell by the wayside during the Congo's latest civil war. The new, 30,500-square-kilometre reserve ? established with the help of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative in Washington DC ? brings the amount of the Democratic Republic of the Congo set aside for wildlife to just over 10%. The government's target is 15%.