What’s new in the Goualougo Triangle? DNAInfo.com shares the latest from the zoo research site, a pristine landscape home to thousands of gorillas and chimpanzees. The wild update includes a baby on the way for field scientists David Morgan and Crickette Sanz.

Last February, a producer and two cameramen from the Natural History unit of the British Broadcasting Corporation arrived at the Goualougo basecamp ready to shoot one of the last sequences of the six-part epic series “Africa.” Initial inquiries about filming in Goualougo had started long before, in late 2010, and now the time had finally come to get down to work and show the world why Goualougo chimpanzees and their forest home are so special.

I’m proud to say that on July 1 the United Nations World Heritage Committee named the Sangha Tri-National Protected Area a World Heritage Site. This status, conferred by the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), represents the culmination of a body of work spanning decades. It also reflects the importance of the landscape that Lincoln Park Zoo and its partners are doing so much to study and save.

The area in question is a 10,000-square-mile contiguous forest stretching across parts of the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and the Central African Republic. It’s home to significant populations of western gorillas and central chimpanzees, which I’ve spent years studying with my wife and partner, Crickette Sanz. The region is also home to important indigenous hunter-gather populations whose very existence and cultures rely on these forests. We’re glad to see UNESCO agrees it’s of global importance and deserving of protection.

Elevating the Sangha Tri-National Protected Area to World Heritage status raises the profile of Africa on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is a welcome addition, as Africa has historically been underrepresented on the World Heritage List, encompassing only 9 percent of sites.

Designation for the Sangha Tri-National Protected Area is also unique because it’s the first site spanning three nations. The continuous forest cover is a key feature; the area is one of the most ecologically functional and least human-modified forests worldwide.

The Goualougo Triangle, where we study great ape tool use and the impact of logging, is at the southernmost tip of the Sangha Tri-National Protected Area. Earlier this year the Triangle celebrated its own milestone in protection. After years of lobbying, it was officially included within Nouabale-Ndoki National Park by Presidential decree—necessary protection for one of most pristine landscapes on earth.

Both this earlier recognition and the World Heritage Site designation highlight the inherent worth in sustaining these globally important initiatives. They reflect the key involvement of government officials, researchers, local stakeholders, non-government organizations, the private sector and financial supporters. Beyond that, they reflect hope for the species that call the region home, including chimpanzees and gorillas, our closest cousins.

Dave Morgan

A research fellow in Lincoln Park Zoo's Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, David Morgan, Ph.D., is co-director of the Goualougo Triangle Ape Project.

On January 20, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo made a significant and lasting step toward the protection of biodiversity in his country. With the stroke of a pen, he granted protected status to the Goualougo Triangle, a key conservation area, a stronghold of great ape research in the Congo Basin and a place with a remarkable history.