7/12/2023 0 Comments West lowland gorillaThe western lowland gorillas are just one of many wild species and subspecies hunted illegally to provide meat for human consumption.Ĭommercial logging and road creation in the north-eastern part of the Republic of the Congo have increased the local demand for bushmeat and been harmful to animals such as western lowland gorilla, chimpanzees, and forest elephants. These outbreaks of ebola in the Republic of the Congo prompted the IUCN to change the status of the subspecies from Endangered to Critically Endangered. The ebola outbreak in the Maya Nord population reduced it from 400 individuals to considerably fewer, although exact numbers are not known. The population is currently recovering, but progress is slow. Six years after the outbreak, there were 40 gorillas. Two years after the outbreak, only 38 gorillas remained. Before the outbreak, this gorilla population contain 377 individuals. As a result, the proportion of solitary males were higher after the outbreak than before. The ebola outbreak in the Lokoué forest clearing had a stronger negative impact on gorillas living in groups and on adult female gorillas. In 2004, an ebola outbreak occurred among gorillas in the Lokoué forest clearing in Odzala-Kokoua National Park, and it also reached the Maya Nord population 52 km north-west of Lokoué. In 2002-2003, the gorillas living in Lossi sanctuary suffered an outbreak of ebola. Among other things, this work includes helping local populations find other sources of protein, and promoting the enforcement of anti-poaching laws. For a long time, they have been working together with local communities to improve the situation for the gorillas. One of the main international organizations working with western lowland gorilla conservation in the Republic of the Congo is The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2006-2007 found about 125,000 previously unreported gorillas living in swampy forests in the Lake Télé Community Reserve and in the nearby dryland forests in the Republic of the Congo. Due to poaching and disease, researchers later adjusted that number down to less than half. Farming, livestock grazing and expanding human settlements are often more problematic, as they tend to permanently turn gorilla habitat into non-gorilla habitat.Īccording to a gorilla census carried out in the 1980s, the gorilla population in equatorial Africa was comprised of roughly 100,000 individuals. Logging can seriously damage or even destroy gorilla habitat, but there are also examples where careful logging have resulted in increased herbaceous vegetation for the gorillas to eat. Some of the main threats against the western lowland gorilla are habitat loss, hunt for bushmeat and serious diseases, such as ebola. Their range extend from sea level up to circa 1,300 metres. They are found in many different habitats, including rainforest, montane forest, lowland tropical forest, swamp forest, brush, secondary vegetation, clearings, forest edges, abandoned farming fields, and riverine forests. The western lowland gorillas live in primary and secondary forests and lowland swamplands. The Republic of Congo is currently considered to host a majority of the wild western lowland gorillas, and Congo´s large swamp forests are especially important for this subspecies. The western lowland gorilla lives in central Africa in the countries Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. It is by far the most commonly kept subspecies of gorilla in zoos all over the world. The western lowland gorilla does not grow as big as the other three subspecies of gorilla. Just like the other subspecies, it is listed as Critically Endangered by IUCN. The western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is one of the two subspecies of western gorilla.
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