A rare bit of good news was announced this week regarding the continuing battle to save the planets endangered species. The once ‘critically endangered’ Central African Mountain Gorilla has been moved from this status to merely endangered – still worrying but a welcome step in the right direction.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has announced that in a recent survey the number living in the protected areas have increased from 680 in 2008 to around 1000 now. Not a huge rise in 10 years but significant in percentage terms and a rare achievement given most species on the critically endangered list are still seeing declines in numbers.
This in no way ensures their continued survival and they are only found in two locations the forest-cloaked volcanoes of the Western Rift Valley (the Virunga Massif), territory overlapping Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda which is a far from stable zone. The other location is Uganda’s Bwindi National Park currently less concerning but still facing challenges.
Male Silverback Mountain Gorilla in the National Park
Jurgen Vogt/Shutterstock
Going forward the future survival of these legendary ‘silverback’ gorillas will depend upon continued preservation efforts and continued expansion of the Tourist industry – with many thousand visitors to the region paying to see them in their natural habitat. They still face pressures from poachers and any major outbreak of civil unrest in the region could also be catastrophic. Further, they are susceptible to disease including the devastating Ebola virus which could wipe out the population very quickly should it ever take hold. Couple this with the need to extend their range as their numbers increase and the growing human population in the surrounding areas means that it may be necessary to try and find a third protected area – which would also be prudent given the disease risk. Still, for today we can celebrate a rare success story in the ongoing battle to preserve the worlds eco-diversity.
