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- The most likely early inhabitants of the Niger Delta would have been the
Cross River speaking peoples, today represented by;
- a) the Central Delta peoples (Abuan, Odual and a number of very small
groups such as the Bukuma stretching in a zone across the centre of the
Delta from West to East
- b) the Ogoni peoples (Kana, Eleme, Baan) found in the Eastern Delta
- c) the Lower Cross peoples (Obolo)
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- The angwantibo is indigenous to this region and eastwards to Cameroun
- Vernacular names are usually the same as the potto also throughout this
region
- The Central Delta name, ekidi, is borrowed into Ịjọ, Igboid
and Edoid except where Ịjọ has replaced it with an avoidance
name
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- The potto subspecies are spread across West Africa to Gabon and the
Niger River may represent a boundary between P.p. potto and P.p. edwardsii
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- The manatee is found in both fresh and coastal waters throughout West
Africa
- Despite an absence of published records the species is widespread
throughout the Delta including mangrove creeks, and most common in the
tidal freshwater zone where bankside-floating grass is present all year
- It is easily hunted and is highly edible, hence it has been wiped out
almost everywhere
- Ịjọ emein resembles Mande terms, Maninka mǎ, Bamana mã̌ Tieyaxo ma
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- Elephants are only found in the Nun-Orashi corridor and Andoni island
and are slowly being wiped out (8 remaining in 2005)
- In contrast to other species, almost every language group has their own
name, suggesting they were already familiar with the elephant in their
home area, prior to migration.
- Ịjọ bila is similar to;
- Mande Ngain bíè
- Gur Deg bàlà
- Adamawa Mundang bàlì
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- Anomalurops beecrofti Beecroft's Flying Squirrel
- Anomalurops derbianus Derby's Flying Squirrel
- are the two probable species in the Delta, both known by the same
Ịjọ name which is not
borrowed from other languages
- They occur from Senegal to Zambia and is found in secondary cultivation,
so should have been known to migrating Ịjọ
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- Leopards were probably originally found throughout much of this region.
Some fairly reliable reports of occurrences come from remote road-less
areas of Rivers State. These include the Agge-Dodo barrier island
Bolou-Orua’s Kada-Ogba forest and Oyeregbene south of Peremabiri.
- Ịjọ has an ‘old’ word edule (no cognates elsewhere) but in
most languages it has been replaced by konu-owei (?fearful animal)
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- The pygmy hippo, Hippopotamus liberiensis was first identified via its
indigenous name as distinct from the usual hippo.
- It is listed as extinct in the usual reference books, but may well just
survive
- Its name, ebein, which is distinct from the ordinary hippo, is readily
elicited, suggesting it was common until recently
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- The hippo, Hippopotamus amphibius, has been very rare in recent times,
due to over-hunting but was probably also once common
- Its main name, something like otobo,
is borrowed from Central Delta into almost all the language
families of the Delta, as is ebein
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- To Bruce Powell and Kay Williamson
- To Dimie Otubu and Hanson Otufu
- To Julia Brown for text typing and Ian Agnew for map redrawing
- To Tunde Morakinyo, Lynne Baker
and Elizabeth Pimley for additional information
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- To Shell (SPDC) for commissioning and then losing Bruce Powell’s work
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