"Mother Lode of Gorillas" Found

August 07, 2008

Hope for gorillas shot into the stratosphere this week with the Wildlife Conservation Society announcement that a previously unknown population of 125,000 western lowland gorillas has just been found deep in the Republic of the Congo.

Although the discovery has yet to be confirmed, it is expected to more than double the world's entire estimated population of gorillas.

Whooopie!

(Credit: Thomas Breuer/Wildlife Conservation Society-Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

According to the WCS, the new census was the result of intensive field work carried out by the Bronx Zoo-based society and the Government of Republic of Congo, where researchers combed rainforests and isolated swamps to count gorilla "nests" to accurately estimate the population.

Please click on the map for a better view.
(Credit: Wildlife Conservation Society)

"We knew from our own observations that there were a lot of gorillas out there, but we had no idea there were so many," said Emma Stokes, who led the survey efforts in Ndoki-Likouala. "We hope that the results of this survey will allow us to work with the Congolese government to establish and protect the new Ntokou-Pikounda protected area."

Her colleague Steven Sanderson, president and CEO of the WCS, added, "These figures show that northern Republic of Congo contains the mother lode of gorillas. 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."

(Credit: Thomas Breuer/Wildlife Conservation Society-Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)

Comments

[Joelel]

My joy is full!