Given that more organizations are
pooling resources and that the number of primates continues to rise, the
gorilla conservation status in Africa is favorable. Africa is home to a wide
range of wildlife species that have provided significant social and economic
benefits over time, making it one of the world’s top travel destinations. Even
with these enormous advantages, African wildlife species are in danger of going
extinct.
The International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the mountain gorilla, Ethiopian wolf,
Black rhino, Rothchild’s giraffe, chimpanzee, African pen, riverine rabbit,
African wild dog, and pickergrill’s reedfrog on its Red list of endangered
species that are vital to conservation and protection. One of the four
categories of mountain gorillas is There
are gorillas in the Virunga volcanic mountains, which are located in the
eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, northwestern Rwanda, and southwest
Uganda. The mountain and lowland gorillas are the two primary species.
The Eastern and Western Lowland
Gorillas are the two subspecies of the Lowland Gorillas. Four national
parks—the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, the Virunga National Park in the
Congo, the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, and the Mgahinga Gorilla
National Park in Uganda—are home to mountain gorillas. Mountain gorillas are
mostly quadrupedal and terrestrial, and their fur is thicker and longer than
that of their lowland cousins, which helps them withstand colder climates.
Adult males’ hair is gray and silver, and they have a more noticeable bony
crest. The term “silverback” refers to the backs that develop with
age. Mountain gorillas are twice as heavy as their female counterparts,
weighing between 195 and 200 kg. Their arms are longer than their legs, and
they walk on their knuckles, using the backs of their curved fingers to support
their weight.
Conservation
of Mountain Gorillas: Population and Census
The number of mountain gorillas
fluctuated between 1959 and 1960. George Schaller’s first gorilla census
predicted that there were 400–500 gorillas in the Virunga protected area.
Following this, Dian Fossey and her team from the Karisoke Research Center
conducted gorilla censuses in 1971 and 1973, which revealed a sharp drop in
gorilla populations, which had fallen to 250. This decrease was ascribed to due
to a rise in poaching and the conversion of up to 40% of the area in volcanoes’
national parks to agricultural land. Census of Gorillas in Bwindi, Uganda42 of
the approximately 260 gorillas in the Karisoke Research Center’s 1978 census
were under three years old.
After Dian Fossey’s death in 1985, the
1989 census found that there were about 320 in the impenetrable forest of
Bwindi and 324 in the Virunga protected area. In the Virunga protected area,
the number progressively increased to 380 in 2003 and 480 in 2010, indicating a
26.3% rise in the gorilla population during a seven-year period. Censuses in
Bwindi’s dense forest were conducted differently than those in the Virunga
volcanoes, with the 1997 gorilla census revealing 300 people in all, up to 320
in 2002. However, the 2006 population census showed a drop to 302. In the 2006
gorilla census, 682 mountain gorillas were discovered in the impenetrable
national parks of Bwindi and the Virunga region. This number increased by 138
in 2012, and the most recent gorilla census in 2018 reported over 1000 mountain
gorillas in the wild.
Conservation
and Protection of Gorillas
Even though the number of mountain
gorillas has been steadily increasing over the past several years, these
powerful primates nevertheless face a number of challenges from human
activities that are said to have nearly driven them extinct in the early 1970s.
These dangers can be broadly categorized as resulting from social, economic, and
political circumstances. Mostly by humans.
Human populations continue to grow
daily as the years pass. As a result, woods have been encroached upon for
pastoral, agricultural, and human habitation purposes.
As a result, the mountain gorillas’
habitat, nesting grounds, and feeding areas have been lost. The mountain
gorillas are therefore enticed to eat the human agricultural plantations due to
a lack of food, which draws reprisal from the other end. The likelihood of
human infectious diseases like pneumonia, flu, and most recently, Ebola,
spreading to mountain gorillas is increased by increased human-gorilla
interactions, such as towns and tourism activities like gorilla trekking. At
least 20% of gorilla populations have experienced unexpected deaths due to
disease. Humans’ growing economic requirements have also seen an increase of
snares and traps used for poaching. Because mountain gorillas, especially young
ones, can sell for up to $5,000 on the illegal market, poaching can be
profitable.
The significant threat to mountain
gorillas posed by political instability and civil conflicts, which have
occurred in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent
decades, is still something to think about. An estimated four million people
have died as a result of the civil and political unrest in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo in just over ten years. In addition to killing mountain
gorillas, this civil and political turmoil has resulted in habitat loss as a
result of the overcrowding of refugee settlements by humanity. Additionally, it
has been discovered that climate change is a danger Because of certain
characteristics, such as their rates of productivity and genetic differences,
mountain gorillas are susceptible to a variety of environmental changes.
Conservation
of Mountain Gorillas
Following Dian Fossey’s arrival in
Rwanda in the 1970s, conservation efforts for mountain gorillas began. American
primatologist Dian Fossey dedicated her life to studying mountain gorillas and
identifying alternate ways to help preserve the steadily declining population
of mountain gorillas in East Africa. Our 3-Day Dian Fossey Hike and Gorilla
Trekking is a great way to honor Dian Fossey. Rwandan Gorilla Conservation In
order to help address the issues surrounding mountain gorillas in Africa,
conservation efforts have so far been divided into three categories: active,
theoretical, and community-based initiatives the area. Following that,
governments have been actively involved in conservation efforts by working with
other gorilla conservation organizations to develop and implement policies
aimed at reaching the shared objective of a population of mountain gorillas
free from threats.
The World Wild Fund for Nature, Fauna
and Flora International, and the African Wildlife Foundation are the primary
organizations involved in the conservation of mountain gorillas. In order to
take the lead in mountain gorilla conservation, they co-founded the International
Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) in 1991. Finding a balance between
preserving mountain gorilla breeding habitats and addressing the varied and
constantly expanding needs of communities has been the primary goal of
conservation efforts. Individual and community-based analysis has emerged as a
key strategy to do this.
Techniques have been implemented to
attain a sustainable standard of living by providing these people with economic
empowerment in alternative revenue-generating enterprises that would replace
deforestation and unregulated access to natural resources within protected
areas. In Uganda, mountain gorilla conservation has involved communities
renting land to enlarge protected areas and relying on trust income from
gorilla tourism to promote sustainable agriculture and develop and provide
services to the communities. Other initiatives, like educating people about the
value of animal conservation and incorporating them in decision-making, have
also gained traction.
In addition to community-based
initiatives like better accommodations and facilities, park headquarters have
been renovated to promote tourists. Additional gorilla conservation measures
include ranger patrols, disabling placed traps, conducting regular gorilla
census counts in the concentrated mountain gorilla areas, and conducting
on-ground protection of protected areas and enforcement of the legislation.
The mountain Because of the yearly
cash it generates, gorilla tourism continues to be a significant asset for the
nations where they are situated, giving them a competitive edge over their
neighbors. In order to fully benefit from gorilla trekking, Rwanda, Uganda, and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo must coordinate their tourism and
conservation initiatives.