Great news - 125.000 gorillas found in Kongo!

GREAT NEWS FOR THE WORLD'S GENTLE GIANTS!



It has now been discovered that 125.000 western lowland gorillas are living in the northern parts of Kongo. That is more than twice as many as scientists believed was left in the whole world!

The world’s population of critically endangered western lowland gorillas has received a huge boost. A new, groundbreaking census released by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) shows massive numbers of these secretive great apes alive and well in the Republic of Congo. In addition, the researchers discovered the highest gorilla densities ever recorded, as high as eight individuals in an area smaller than half a square mile.

Together with the government of Congo, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) has tallied more than 125,000 western gorillas in two adjacent areas of the northern part of the country.

The startling discovery brings new hope for the critically endangered western lowland gorilla, which had been previously thought to number fewer than 50,000 across the species’ entire range. WCS released the census results at a press conference on August 5, 2008 at the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The new census was the result of intensive fieldwork carried out by WCS and the Government of Republic of Congo. Across an area covering 18,000 square miles, researchers tracked the animals by counting their nests, which nomadic gorillas build each evening to sleep in before rising the next morning in search of browse and a new overnight campsite.

Read more on the Wildlife Conservation Society's website:
www.wcs.org...

I think this is wonderful. I watched the show on Nat Geo about someone just slaughtering them for no reason at all. Animals need our support more then ever. Great story thanks star and flag for you.

Man that is AWESOME!!! Such interesting animals and very cool to watch in the wild.

That's incredible, it's nice to get some good news once in a while.

Maybe one of those is the mythical 911gorilla that we've heard so much about!

This is brilliant News. I also watched the nat geo documentary about the slaughtering of the gorillas and it really pissed me off, but then I realised that the same people who slaughtered the gorillas were doing the same thing to human beings with the same disregard.

sorry off topic.... Good News though

Finally! Some good news!

That's it for me, then. I'm logging off. Want to keep this grin on my face for the rest of the day.

See that face?

That's the face of amazement at being "found".
These Gorillas knew what they were doing.
They weren't lost they hid.


"Humans? Here too? There goes the neighborhood."

They'll be gone in sixty seconds if they know what's best for them.

- Lee

[quote"Humans? Here too? There goes the neighborhood."

They'll be gone in sixty seconds if they know what's best for them.

- Lee

Sadly, by destroying their natural habitats, we humans have made sure that they don't have many places to go to...

And now the rest of the world knows about these gorilla's, the poachers will know too....

reply to post by OutoftheBoxthinker


The Wildlife Conservation Society are working to protect the gorillas from the poachers and other threats:

Throughout Central Africa, WCS works with governments, indigenous communities, and the private sector to establish management programs for gorillas and other wildlife. Developing effective law enforcement measures for protected species is key: Human activities represent the greatest threat to gorillas. They are endangered largely because of poaching for the bushmeat trade, habitat destruction due to logging, and health threats such as the Ebola virus.

Our education and outreach efforts to reduce the bushmeat trade target both local and urban markets, and include developing alternative protein sources in larger logging towns. WCS-Africa and Field Veterinary Program staff monitor gorilla health to understand the transmission patterns of Ebola and other diseases, and are currently testing methods in the field to potentially control Ebola’s spread in great ape populations.

Many of the gorillas counted in the recent census live outside existing protected areas, particularly in the Ntokou-Pikounda landscape. This mosaic of swamp forest, clearings, and mixed forests is also habitat for elephants, chimpanzees, crocodiles, and hippos, as well as rare and threatened birds such as crowned eagles and hornbills. The remoteness of the region—much of which lies beyond the current reach of bushmeat hunters—means that this “green abyss,” in the words of WCS conservationist Mike Fay, is still relatively undisturbed. The Republic of Congo has committed to creating a new national park to help safeguard its future.

WCS field staff will work with the Congolese government to ensure the success of the new protected areas, just as we have helped to manage the country’s Lac Télé Community Reserve, Conkouati-Douli National Park, and Nouabalé Ndoki National Park. There, our scientists and educators are training the next generation of national park managers, biologists, and community conservationists.

Through WCS's website you can also urge Congress to increase funding to gorillas and other global priority species in their natural habitats.

www.wcs.org...

I think it is probably about time to question the original estimates in the first place. How difficult can it be to miss two football stadia full of Gorillas.
This is where tree hugging rather than true conservation gets a bad name, no-one goes back and questions the science as we are all too ecstatic with 125000 "new" Gorillas. In fact they have been there the whole time and may even have been part of the original estimates, so are they new....?

Whatever great news and I love to see egg all over the faces of the doom mongers (as I am sure they are too). Good estimates based on science and people will believe, unfortunately I hope the usual "ok so there not a problem any more" doesn 't set in and these lovely guys get wiped out.

Originally posted by Deharg
I think it is probably about time to question the original estimates in the first place. How difficult can it be to miss two football stadia full of Gorillas.

Well, you know, these guys aren't excactly lining up to be counted. These are wild animals, and have obviously had the good sense to keep away from human beings!

Anyway it is crucial that we humans now take action to preserve what is left of undisturbed, wild nature on our planet. The rainforests and many natural habitats for wild animals are being destroyd inch by inch, and gorillas are not the only ones that are in trouble.

Results of the most recent global primate assessment have been discussed this week at the annual International Primatological Society meeting, held in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The survey was done as part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and it is grim reading.
Nearly 50% of the world's 634 primate species and subspecies are in danger of going extinct. The situation is most dire in Asia, where more than 70% could disappear forever in the near future.
News reports of a global species extinction crisis appear every now and then. Somehow, the fact that hundreds and perhaps even thousands of species are lost daily - gone forever, irreplaceable - has not roused much alarm among the general public.

news.bbc.co.uk...



The yellow cheeked crested gibbon is another endangered primate.

Hi Ziggy

I was refering to the methods used. How good is the method if it completely misses over 125000 individuals. Population sampling is designed (supposedly of course) to elicit numbers for shy creatures thats why they are sampled in the first place.

Looking for Goriila beds seems here to have been a good method, I am questioning the methods previously used.

Apart from that little clear up I agree with you entirely. Don't forget though, all the extinction stories we hear are backed up by population models, some good some bad. Good news in ATS today on Humpback Whales (55000). I am really pleased about that.
Perhaps some drift netting bans would now be in order to get back some fish stocks too.

Ban on Hardwood exports managend or otherwise (managed stuff creates the market for the illegally felled stuff).

Our world should be a garden that we are allowed to play in not wreck because we can.

More power to you my frined.

Thats great lets hope that they can be protected properly for years & years to come

Come Ziggy, you've got to use the search once in a while.

I posted this topic last week.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

You did get better response than i did though. Congrads.

I love gorillas. They are actually more loving than humans. Serpent DnA is a real killer

reply to post by wolf241e


Actually, if you look at the date I started this thread, you will see that I started it one day BEFORE you started yours. Mine was started August 5ht, your thread was started August 6th. Check the dates yourself.

So perhaps it was YOU who should have done a search..?

Ziggy thanks!
A happy gorilla indeed, however the information came out from as alluded to, the largest search for Primates and their current population and habitats ever undertaken.

This was the only good news from that study. The global implications are horrendous, for example on the same day it was shown that;

"70% of all primate species within the Asian Continent are critically endangered"

Also this extra population of gorillas still means that the status of this species of primate is still at the same level of threat, before they were found;

"Critically Endangered"

There is a good and similar thread here on Extinction threats to a type of Chimpanzee;

Humans Closest Sex Mad Relatives Under threat of Extinction

Before I close I just heard something on the BBC world Service, that strongly in one sentence shows the problems that current human politics has on the environment and probably survival of human kind too, once biodiversity is gone humans are at real risk too.

Anyhow it was the following;

"we now have an interview with John McCains Environmental Guru's and representative, he is the ex head of the CIA....."

OMFG how do these people get into positions of power in shaping peoples views on this, and potetial policy decisions?

just how?

Kind regards,

Elf.

reply to post by Deharg


I must admit that I don't know very much about the different methods they use when they estimate the number of gorillas and other primates in the wild. But I found a scientific report from April this year which discusses two different methods - nest count and dung count.

It seems that nest count has been the method mostly used over the years, but the report points out that it can be difficult to distinguish between gorilla nests and chimpanzee nests in areas where the two primates live together. Dung count can therefore be another useful index of gorilla density.

I am having trouble with providing a direct link to the document, but you can do a Google search for:

"ESTIMATING GORILLA ABUNDANCE BY DUNG COUNT IN THE NORTHERN PART OF MOUKALABA-DOUDOU NATIONAL PARK, GABON"