Some rare good news from the gorilla world has come out of the Republic of Congo. A census conducted by the country’s government and the World Conservation Society has found that the population of western lowland gorillas is four times larger than previously thought.
The survey based its results on the number of sleeping ‘nests’ it found. What’s more worrying is that most of the gorilla population is currently found outside protected areas.
This news has been tempered by a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which warns that nearly half of the 634 primate species in the world are under threat of extinction.
The challenge now in many places is to promote protection, rather than poaching, as a source of income for countries with large gorilla populations. It’s not going to be an easy road but hopefully it will start before other species go the way of history.
Wanderlust editor-in-chief Lyn Hughes recently visited a project for orphaned and injured chimpanzees in The Gambia. You can read all about it here
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