The population of the world’s last mountain gorillas has rebounded by 73% since 1989, allowing the subspecies to be reclassified from critically endangered — one step away from extinction — to endangered. But they remain imperiled, with about 1,063 left. They live in just one place: the Greater Virunga Landscape that straddles Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic […]
Tag: gorillas
EXCLUSIVE: British hunter kills rare albino baboon on sick trophy hunting trip
British trophy hunters have shot over 500 monkeys and baboons on safari trips, say campaigners. The sick thrill-seekers include a grandad who blasted a rare albino baboon, proudly posed for a photo next to its bloody corpse and then had it stuffed and mounted to display at home. Contacted online by undercover investigators posing as […]
Pristine Forest and Endangered Gorilla Habitat at Risk as Half of DRC Opened to Bids for Oil and Gas Drilling: Report
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is home to many species of rare and endangered wildlife, such as mountain gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas and bonobos. But the country has plans to open more than half its land — including 306 million acres of intact tropical forest and vital gorilla habitat — to oil and […]
Signs of hope for rescued gorillas rewilded in DRC, but security concerns linger
Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala: these are the names of four Grauer’s gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) that conservationists reintroduced to the wild in October 2024. After years in a sanctuary, the critically endangered gorillas were released via a rewilding facility in Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. All four of the […]
“Incredibly emotional”: moving footage shows orphaned gorillas returning to wild after 10 years of rehabilitation
Love is in the air after four female gorillas, rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, were rehomed to the wild in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s hoped that the translocation, which is the largest release of eastern lowland gorillas in Africa, will provide a vital genetic boost to the isolated population of eight gorillas […]
Armed conflict, not Batwa people, at heart of Grauer’s gorillas’ past decline in DRC park
A new study has concluded that the decline in Grauer’s gorillas in a sector of their main stronghold in the Democratic Republic of Congo was the result of the impacts of armed conflict, rather than the presence or absence of Indigenous communities. With the end of the Second Congo War in 2003, gorilla populations in […]
Chimps are dying of the common cold. Is great ape tourism to blame?
There was something wrong with the chimpanzees. For weeks, a community of 205 animals in Uganda’s Kibale national park had been coughing, sneezing and looking generally miserable. But no one could say for sure what ailed them, even as the animals began to die. Necropsies can help to identify a cause of death, but normally, […]
Certified timber harvesting of tropical forests proves beneficial for gorillas and elephants
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified timber harvesting areas in Gabon and Congo boast a greater abundance of larger mammals, such as leopards, gorillas, and elephants, than non-FSC forests. Utrecht University researcher Joeri Zwerts and colleagues conclude this based on 1.3 million camera trap images gathered in fourteen commercially exploited forests. The researchers’ analysis reveals the effectiveness […]