A study by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit of Oxford University in cooperation with Panthera showed that nations from relatively less developed countries are put a lot of effort into nature conservation. Among the investigated nations, which were ranked in the top 10, seven countries are from Africa.

The Central African Republic (CAR) ranks 7th because it is home to an amazingly diverse wildlife population. CAR is a landlocked state with five designated national parks, home to the bongo antelope, the western lowland gorilla, the central and eastern chimpanzee and the forest elephant. Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas with the Dzanga Ndoki National Park is one of those five conservation hotpots in the country.

The study focuses on the conservation of the megafauna, i.e. the large land mammals. Adult carnivores in this category weigh 15 kg (33 pounds) or more, and adult herbivores or omnivores weight 100 kg (220 pounds) or more.

Ranking 152 countries the study puts in a Megafauna Conservation Index three elements:

• the proportion of land occupied by megafauna in a country
• the percentage of the megafauna habitat that is strictly protected
• the percentage of the GDP devoted to funding for domestic and international conservation efforts.

If you are interested in which countries are doing their part to protect wildlife, take a look at the 10 countries that contribute the most to wildlife protection of a  total of 152 nations of the world.