African great apes are some of the most iconic creatures on Earth. Humans’ closest living relative, these majestic primates are becoming increasingly impacted by climate change. In the next three decades, African apes will experience more extreme events such as heat waves, wildfires and flooding, according to a new study led by Razak Kiribou, a […]
Tag: mountain gorillas
Fifth of known species on Earth found in Unesco world heritage sites – survey
A fifth of known life on Earth can be found in Unesco world heritage sites, according to the first survey of the planet’s most important cultural and historical landmarks. From the Great Barrier Reef to the Kazakh steppe, nearly three-quarters of all recorded bird species, two-thirds of all mammals and more than half of all […]
Most species, including humans, who experience early life adversity suffer as adults. How are gorillas different?
There’s something most species—from baboons to humans to horses—have in common: When they suffer serious adversity early in life, they’re more likely to experience hardship later on in life. When researchers from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the University of Michigan decided to look at this question in gorillas, they weren’t sure what they […]
Mountain gorilla reproduction slows with female transfers, study shows
Mountain gorillas are currently the only nonhuman great ape whose population is not declining. Thanks to successful conservation interventions, the species’ population has increased from 620 in 1989 to more than 1,000 today, enabling the International Union for Conservation of Nature to change the species’ conservation status from critically endangered to endangered. However, with mountain […]
Habitat Destruction, Poachers and Human-Transmitted Disease Could Erase Progress Made With Endangered Mountain Gorilla
The Mountain Gorilla is one of the 10 most endangered animals on Earth, and it may not be here much longer. For decades, mountain gorilla populations have been dwindling as uncontrolled hunting, disease, habitat loss and the ravages of human conflict have taken their toll. The mountain gorilla are now considered endangered. In the 1980s, […]
The most awe-inspiring and exuberant birds are facing extinction first – let’s stop nature becoming boring
For decades ecologists have been warning about the homogenisation of diversity – species becoming more alike – in the living world. Now, researchers at the University of Sheffield have published research predicting that bird species with striking and extreme traits are likely to go extinct first. “The global extinction crisis doesn’t just mean that we’re […]
COVID could wreak havoc on gorillas, but they social distance better than we do
Endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s famous Volcanoes National Park could face “population collapse” within 50 years if some of them contract COVID-19, new research suggests. There are only around 1,000 mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) left in the wild, all in protected areas in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and tourists come […]
Six gorilla rangers killed in ambush at DR Congo’s Virunga national park
Armed men have killed at least six rangers and wounded several others in an ambush in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Virunga national park, a sanctuary for endangered mountain gorillas, the park said. The identity of the assailants was not immediately clear, said Olivier Mukisya, a Virunga spokesman. Previous attacks against the rangers have been […]