8.6.2008 9:45 AM

New Gorilla Enclave Discovered

Hope for a Species: Gorilla Population Doubles with Single Discovery

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Western lowland gorilla

Photo: Thomas Breuer/Wildlife Conservation Society-Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

By Dan Shapley

A day after researchers reported that half of all primate species worldwide are endangered, there's good news for one of the most impressive species: the western lowland gorilla.

The Wildlife Conservation Society found a huge new population of gorillas in the northern part of the Republic of Congo. The 125,000 gorillas found there nearly doubles the population estimates for the species.

Habitat destruction and hunting for food threatens primates, including the western lowland gorilla. This new population has been able to thrive in a remote and inaccessible forest, protected by the government and managed with the help of the Wildlife Conservation Society, a conservation organization headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York.

“These figures show that northern Republic of Congo contains the mother lode of gorillas,” said Dr. Steven E, Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. “It also shows that conservation in the Republic of Congo is working. This discovery should be a rallying cry for the world that we can protect other vulnerable and endangered species, whether they be gorillas in Africa, tigers in India, or lemurs in Madagascar.”

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