Latest Cross River Gorilla Stories

Brett Smith for RedOrbit.com A system of video camera traps set by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has captured evidence of the Cross River gorilla, a notoriously reclusive and endangered species of primate. “The video represents the best images to date of Cross River gorillas, normally shy animals that flee at the slightest hint of human presence,” said WCS director Christopher Jameson. “The footage provides us with our first tantalizing glimpses of Cross River...

Protection of forest habitat could support larger population of Cross River gorillas Conservationists working in Central Africa to save the world's rarest gorilla have good news: the Cross River gorilla has more suitable habitat than previously thought, including vital corridors that, if protected, can help the great apes move between sites in search of mates, according to the North Carolina Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups. The newly published habitat analysis,...

The world's rarest"”and most camera shy"”great ape has finally been captured on professional video on a forested mountain in Cameroon, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society and Germany's NDR Naturfilm.With the assistance of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Cameroon Program, a film crew from the Hamburg-based NDR Naturfilm managed to video the elusive Cross River gorilla earlier this year in a stand of montane trees after weeks of effort in the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary. The...

Critically endangered, rarest of all great apes receives increased attention in the Year of the Gorilla BUEA, SW Cameroon, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the declaration of 2009 as the Year of the Gorilla, the African Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Environment and Rural Development Foundation (ERuDeF) are launching a special campaign aimed at raising awareness about the plight of the Cross River Gorilla. The Cross River Gorilla Campaign assists the international efforts of the...

Cameroon has established a new national park that seeks to protect the world's rarest gorilla. Takamanda National Park, which borders Nigeria, is home to an estimated 115 endangered Cross River gorillas. Experts believe the total population of the subspecies is less than 300.The move coincides with an initial meeting in Rome of governments of 10 gorilla range states that seek to protect the endangered primates.The Gorilla Agreement, finalized in June, includes all the countries where the...

For so long now, there has been almost nothing but bad news about the likely fate of gorillas. They have been the victims of deforestation and incessant warfare in Central Africa. They have been hunted for meat. They are susceptible to the Ebola virus. Estimates in the 1980s suggested that there were roughly 100,000 western lowland gorillas - one of four subspecies. Since then, that number was thought to have declined by half. But a rigorous new census of western lowland gorillas conducted...

By Andrew C. Revkin A grueling survey of vast tracts of forest and swamp in the northern Congo Republic has revealed the presence of more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas, a rare example of abundance in a world of rapidly vanishing primate populations. As recently as last year, this subspecies of the world's largest primate was listed as critically endangered by international wildlife organizations because known populations - estimated at less than 100,000 in the 1980s - had been...

Wildlife researchers announced on Tuesday the discovery of 125,000 western lowland gorillas deep in the forests of the Republic of Congo, nearly doubling the originally projected population of the critically endangered species.The newly discovered gorillas were counted in two areas of the northern part of the country covering 18,000 square miles, the Wildlife Conservation Society said.Estimates from the 1980s had suggested fewer than 100,000 of the great apes had survived and many experts...