Endangered great apes get malaria, just like humans. New evidence from wild bonobos shows us the infection harms them, too. Malaria is a devastating disease caused by parasites transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitos. For humans, symptoms start out mild—fever, headache and chills—but malaria infection can be fatal within 24 hours. For apes, little […]
Tag: gorillas
A Race Against Time to Save the Most Endangered Gorillas In The World
The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is the most endangered of all gorillas, with only an estimated 300 individuals remaining in the wild, the World Wildlife Fund reports. The Cross River gorilla is found only in a small area spanning the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. According to the WWF, It is here that […]
Saving Uganda’s Wildlife: The Fight Against Poaching and Illegal Trade
The African wilderness is home to some of the world’s most majestic and endangered animals. Still, the sad reality is that many of these animals face a dire threat from poaching and illegal wildlife trade. One area that has been particularly hard hit is Uganda, home to a wide variety of wildlife, including gorillas, elephants, […]
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, […]
Snares: Low-tech, low-profile killers of rare wildlife the world over
On an early morning in January 2013, rangers patrolling Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, a 6,000-square-kilometer (2,300-square-mile) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spotted a young female Grauer’s gorilla. Known to the rangers as Iragi, a name that means “lucky” in Congolese, she had a wire snare wrapped around her hand. Unable to […]
Tropical mammals under rising chemical pollution pressure, study warns
Tropical mammals are living in an ever-changing chemical landscape warns a recent study, with wildlife increasingly exposed to an array of plastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and nanoparticles. The recent study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, warns that this underrecognized threat requires urgent action. Colin Chapman, a biologist and professor at George Washington University, and his […]
Stray juvenile lion shot dead by the Uganda Wildlife Authority for killing and eating people’s livestock
On April 8, 2022, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces soldiers shot and killed a stray juvenile lion that had spent days murdering and eating people’s livestock in many communities in the western Uganda region of Kagadi (UPDF). The lion was shot during a combined operation combining Uganda police, the Uganda Police Force (UPF), and the Uganda […]
Campaigners criticise European zoo proposals to cull adult male gorillas
Campaigners are hitting back at zoo proposals to cull adult male gorillas, arguing they should be returned to the wild instead. Overcrowding of critically endangered western lowland gorillas in zoos has led the influential European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (Eaza) to consider killing adult males of the species. Eaza is the body that regulates […]