The Drabo Forest Reserve (DFR), one of the remaining patches of secondary rainforests in Benin Republic, was the site of a recent bird survey conducted by IITA Forest Center Manager Adewale Awoyemi. The survey was funded by the A.G. Leventis Foundation.
The DFR is a regenerating secondary rainforest rehabilitated and managed by the IITA emeritus scientist Peter Neuenschwander on behalf of the Institute. Located in Drabo Gbo and Dodja villages near Calavi, the DFR is strictly reserved for biodiversity conservation in the immensely degraded area. Despite its small size and persistent threats from urbanization and unsustainable farming, the DFR supports populations of three monkey species, including the critically endangered Red-bellied Monkey Cercopithecus erythrogaster, the Mona Monkey Cercopithecus mona, and the Green Monkey Chlorocebus sabaeus, and many more mammals, reptiles, and, of course, insects.