page_title: Rivers State
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Rivers State / Geography / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Agama lizard, Port Harcourt Nigeria.
context_page_description: Rivers State, also known simply as Rivers, is one of the 36 states of Nigeria. According to census data released in 2006, the state has a population of 5,198,716, making it the sixth-most populous state in the country. Its capital and largest city, Port Harcourt, is economically significant as the centre of Nigeria's oil industry. Rivers State is bounded on the South by the Atlantic Ocean, to the North by Imo, Abia and Anambra States, to the East by Akwa Ibom State, and to the West by Bayelsa and Delta states. It is home of many ethnic groups: Ikwerre, a subgroup of the Igbo people, Ijaw Subgroups, Ogoni people and other ethnic groups. The people from Rivers State are known as "Riverians".
  The inland part of the state consists of tropical rainforest; towards the coast, the typical Niger Delta environment features many mangrove swamps.
context_section_description: Due to its geographical location, Rivers State has always played an important role in the natural history of Nigeria, having been found to host a vast array of wildlife and plants. Its tropical rainforests are home to more species than all other local biomes combined thanks to its climate and canopy structure. Unfortunately, some of the upland forested areas have seen disruption from human activity, impacting negatively on the biodiversity and ecological  functions of natural habitats. In most places, the dominant vegetation usually consists of Elaeis guineensis which has the highest productivity amongst all recognized oleaginous crops.
  The riverine part of the state has three hydro-vegetation zones such as beach ridge, salt water and fresh water. Each zone has its own characteristics and composition, with the freshwaters encompassing the upper and lower floodplains of the Niger Delta.
  Finima Nature Park is a protected area and forest reserve in Bonny Island covering an area of approximately 10 km² (3.9 mi²). The park's vegetation has progressively developed into a high forest considering the form from which it began in 1999. There are two storeys that can be distinguished from outside the forest, the emergents include Symphonia globulifera, Cleistopholis patens, Uapaca spp., Musanga cecropioides, Hallea ledermannii, Terminalia spp., Anthostema aubryanum, Tectona grandis and Elaeis guineensis. The understory is composed mainly of Calamus deeratus, Alchornea cordifolia, Monodora tenuifolia, Harungana madagascariensis, Strophanthus preussii, Rauvolfia vomitoria and Raphia spp.
  The interior of the forest is very shady, and as a result a wide variety of shade tolerant forbs (e.g. Nephrolepis biserrata, Culcasia scandens, Laportea spp., Chromolaena odorata, Aframomum melegueta and Costus afer) and various sedges form thickets on the forest floor. By dry season, large cushion of litter cover the floor because of increase in abscission rate of some plants such as Musanga cecropioides, Hallea ledermannii, Calamus deeratus, Gmelina arborea, Raphia spp. and Elaeis guineensis.
  Mammals, reptiles and amphibians are also found in the park. The common mammals are mona monkeys and pygmy hippopotamuses. Among the reptiles and amphibians are snakes and crocodiles, turtles, frogs, lizards, and skinks.
  One of the world’s Ramsar Convention-listed wetlands, Upper Orashi Forest, is a 252 km² protected area in Ahoada West. It has been identified by BirdLife International as an IBA because of its importance to global populations of grey parrots and other birds. The Biseni Forest in the north west of Ahoada and west of Upper Orashi Forest have also been designated an Important Bird Area. The forest has an area of 219 km² within which mammals like red-bellied monkey and yellow-backed duiker are found along with raffia palms and some woody broadleaved species such as Symphonia globulifera and Ficus spp.
caption: Male Agama lizard
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