The critically endangered wild mountain gorilla received some good news this week as a newly-published census puts the known population at over 1,000. The animal, made world famous by the work of people like Dian Fossey, has been the subject of movies and documentaries over the years chronicling their near extinction due to human activities. According to Eureka Alert, the new census numbers show a 26 percent increase over a six-year period.
This represents one of the rare success stories in conservation. The population of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes has more than doubled in the past three decades, despite intensive threats of poaching, habitat degradation, and civil conflict," stated Martha Robbins, research scientist and gorilla expert at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "This increase exemplifies the dedicated efforts of the governments of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to conserve these critically endangered great apes, and notably, the hard work of park staff on the ground. This dramatic increase also shows that extreme conservation efforts including tourism, veterinary work, and community projects can have a positive impact on one of our closest living relatives."
The census was a combination of intensive fieldwork in 2015 and 2016 and detailed genetic analysis. Field teams walked more than 2,000 kilometres to sweep intensively through the entire 440 square kilometres Virunga Volcanoes searching for trails and nest sites left by the gorillas. Genetic analysis, taking more than 18 months to complete, was conducted on approximately 1,100 fecal samples to determine that there are a minimum of 186 unhabituated (not regularly contacted by humans) gorillas. The remaining 70 percent of the population consists of 418 gorillas that are habituated for research and tourism.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), mountain gorillas are a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, are still considered “critically endangered.”
As their name implies, mountain gorillas live in forests high in the mountains, at elevations of 8,000 to 13,000 feet. They have thicker fur, and more of it, compared to other great apes. The fur helps them to survive in a habitat where temperatures often drop below freezing. But as humans have moved more and more into the gorillas’ territory, the gorillas have been pushed farther up into the mountains for longer periods, forcing them to endure dangerous and sometimes deadly conditions.
What might have been a bleak outlook for the subspecies just a couple of decades ago has brightened in recent years due to conservation efforts. Despite ongoing civil conflict, poaching and an encroaching human population, both populations of mountain gorillas have increased in numbers
Say what you will about “celebrity causes,” one of the strengths that people in the popular culture landscape can sharpen is bringing awareness to ongoing issues.
The Guardian highlights some of the work that has helped these fascinating animals.
The rise in numbers follows the introduction of park guards, veterinary care, community support projects and regulated tourism. However, the survey found that direct threats from wire or rope snares persist. These are set by people to catch antelopes for food, but can kill or harm gorillas.
Conservationists are happy about the success so far, but warn that with climate change there will continue to be very serious and new threats facing endangered populations like the mountain gorilla.