Wildlife and conservation articles, wild travel advice and reviews
Eastern Gorilla
The Eastern Gorilla, or Eastern lowland gorilla (as the Eastern gorilla subspecies is the mountain gorilla) is a species which makes its home only in lowland tropical rainforests in the eastern DRC. In the last 50 years, its range has almost halved, from 8,100 square miles—about the size of the state of Massachusetts— to about 4,600 square miles today. This subspecies may now occupy only 13% of its historical range.
Eastern Lowland gorilla
There are only about 5000 Eastern lowland gorillas left in the wild. While much of their numbers decrease over the last 50 years, has been as a result of a loss of habitat, their most immediate threat is currently, is that of the bushmeat trade. The area around their range is home to people with very little money. Tourism to this area, would likely greatly improve this issue and reduce the demand for Gorilla bush meat. Apart from the threat for the continued survival of this giant (alongside the mountain gorilla, this species is the largest great ape still living.
Any news articles will appear below, and links to allow travel to this region will be added below.
Recent studies have shown that it his highly beneficial to both species when these cross species friendships are made. Indeed, it is not merely a question of chance encounters, instead each species will actively search out the other. Benefits include protection from predators, increased social skills and finding fruiting trees.
The cross River gorilla is a critically endangered subspecies of the Western lowland gorilla species. The cross River gorilla are scattered in at least 11 groups across the lowland montane forests and rainforests of Cameroon and Nigeria, an area of 3,000 square miles, or a little smaller than Puerto Rico. There are only 200-300 that …
The Grauers gorilla, also known as the Eastern lowland gorilla (confusingly often found in the mountains, just not exclusively as the mountain gorilla is) is a close relative of the mountain gorilla.
I am intending to make this into a new set of articles that will appear on this website. Obviously, these species will not be the only ones that are covered – for those who read this website regularly, you will know that I talk about a wide range of species. The species that I am …
Home to one of the two remaining populations of mountain gorillas as well as eastern lowland gorillas and chimpanzees. It is one of the best protected central African rainforest, yet satellite imagery shows significant amounts of deforestation. In April last year, 12 Virunga rangers and 5 civilians were killed in clashes over this environmental destruction. …
China is in the process of creating a huge panda reserve covering 10,476 square miles. This reserve is three times the size of Yellowstone National Park in the USA. With all of the work saving the panda in China, it is surprising that the first reintroduction attempt was only 2006. Since then seven more have …
Virunga National Park the oldest national park in Africa is going to close to the public for two years after the most recent attack killed 12 guards as well as abducting two British tourists. Over 180 Rangers have been killed in the Virungas over the last two decades including six in the most recent attack …
