After a long day of travelling, foraging and eating, a gorilla will skillfully create its nest from branches and leaves. Like us, they like their home comforts: Even gorillas have a bedtime routine. A silverback eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) can reach up to 250kg (39st 5lb) in weight, from a diet that is almost exclusively vegetarian.Ģ. These magnificent animals are the worlds’ largest primates. Gorillas are one of our closest and largest living relatives: We share over 98% of DNA with these gentle giants. And if you really do need more convincing, here, to follow up from Tuver’s great blog post, are five of my own reasons why it’s more important than ever to keep the Grauer’s gorilla safe for generations to come:ġ. Just a moment in their presence is enough to convince you that we need to do all we can to keep them safe. I’ve been lucky enough to see eastern lowland gorillas in the wild. He gave us five key reasons why, despite our best efforts, this sub-species of gorilla is being pushed closer and closer to extinction. The dwindling population of wild western lowland gorillas is reflected across five other African countries – Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo and Gabon.If you’ve been following our Blog from the field, you will have read my colleague Tuver’s reaction to the news that the eastern lowland gorilla (otherwise known as the Grauer’s gorilla) has now gone from being classed as ‘endangered’ to being declared ‘critically-endangered’. “Eventually, if poaching can be controlled, we may be able to help bring back eco-tourism to the area.”īristol Zoological Society’s field team is currently in Equatorial Guinea putting more cameras up, with 30 cameras due to be in place across the national park range by Easter. “We will be able to work alongside the national park to find areas where patrols should be targeted to prevent poaching for example,” she added. The photographs taken will be crucial in helping to establish a conservation plan for the park, Dr McCabe said. Dr Grainne McCabe (Barbara Evripidou//PA) Other primates, including mandrills, are heavily hunted in the area for bush meat, which is a delicacy in the cities of Central Africa. In 2005, it was estimated that around 2,000 western lowland gorillas lived in the area but current numbers are unknown. “Levels of poaching in the park are very high and so we have always been very concerned that they are at risk of being hunted into extinction in this area.” “It is a huge milestone for the project as it confirms their existence here, despite heavy hunting pressure in this forest,” said Dr McCabe. She said it was particularly exciting to see young gorillas, estimated to be about four years old, as this shows that a new generation has been born and appears to be thriving. A western lowland gorilla in Equatorial Guinea (Bristol Zoological Society/PA)ĭr Grainne McCabe, head of conservation and field science at Bristol Zoological Society, described the images as a “career highlight”. Western lowland gorillas are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. They were taken by one of a series of cameras set up by conservationists from Bristol Zoological Society and the University of the West of England. The images, caught by camera traps, show curious young gorillas deep in their jungle home in central Rio Muni. Wild western lowland gorillas have been pictured in an area of Equatorial Guinea for the first time in more than a decade.
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