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Gorilla galore found in Congo
05/08/2008 10:38 - (SA)
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| A western lowland gorilla in the wild, in the Republic of Congo. (Thomas Breuer, Wildlife Conservation Society, AP)
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Maggie Fox
Washington - A crowd of gorillas has survived in the northern part of the Republic of Congo - so many that environmentalists can double population estimates,
according to a report released on Tuesday.
A new census tallied more than 125 000 western lowland
gorillas in a 47 000-square-kilometer
area, the Wildlife Conservation Society reported.
Estimates from the 1980s had suggested fewer than 100 000
of the great apes had survived and many experts believed these
numbers had been cut nearly in half by disease and hunting.
"These figures show that northern Republic of Congo
contains the mother lode of gorillas," Steven Sanderson,
president and chief executive officer of the Wildlife
Conservation Society, said in a statement.
"It also shows that conservation in the Republic of Congo
is working. This discovery should be a rallying cry for the
world that we can protect other vulnerable and endangered
species, whether they be gorillas in Africa, tigers in India,
or lemurs in Madagascar."
'Critically endangered'
The group released its findings at a meeting of the
International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh,
Scotland.
Researchers counted nests made by gorillas in rainforests
and isolated swamps. Gorillas make fresh nests every night.
Western lowland gorillas are one of four recognised gorilla
sub-species, which also include mountain gorillas, eastern
lowland gorillas, and Cross River gorillas.
All are classified as "critically endangered" by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN, except
eastern lowland gorillas, which are endangered.
Another report from the IUCN shows nearly half the world's
monkeys and apes are facing a worsening threat of extinction
because of deforestation and hunting for "bushmeat".
They found that 48% of the 634 known species and
sub-species of primates, humankind's closest relatives such as
chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons and lemurs, were at risk of
extinction.
- Reuters
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