Western Lowland Gorilla
This population occurs within the countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. The largest of the gorilla populations, with approximately 150,000 individuals across Central Africa, gained a large boost in known numbers when researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society discovered an unknown (to researchers) population in 2006/2007 in the Republic of Congo which in effect doubled their numbers in the wild from previous estimates. For more information you can link to: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/05/congo.gorillas/index.html
The Western Lowland Gorilla is listed as Critically Endangered even though they occur over a wide area with relatively low human population densities. The fragmented subpopulations generally occur at low numbers and their distribution is patchy with an estimated 80% of the population live outside protected area.
Western Lowland Gorilla photo courtesy Thomas Breuer
Currently the major threats to this population are poaching and disease epidemics such as the Ebola Virus followed by future habitat loss. Outbreaks of the Ebola virus alone since 2000 has claimed thousands of great apes in Africa.
Because gorillas have a low reproductive rate, they are very susceptible to even low level of hunting which can easily fragment a family unit’s social structure. Reproductive groups of Western Gorillas almost always contain only one dominant silverback male plus three or four females and four or five offspring (Fay, 1989). Adult females in any group are mostly unrelated, and the social ties that exist between them are weak. In contrast to many other primates, it is the bond between each individual female and the silverback, rather than bonds between the females, that hold the group together. Upon reaching maturity, both males and females leave the natal group. The females usually join another group or a lone young adult male, whereas the males remain solitary until they can attract females and establish their own groups (www.YOG2009.org).
We have mentioned Eastern Lowland Gorillas and Western Lowland Gorillas and the two populations are separated geographically by over 600 miles and have a few distinguishable physical differences.
The Houston Zoo is proud to support the Mbeli Bai Gorilla Study in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Republic of Congo. More on this in a later blog but for now you may go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/gorilla-study/ for more information and to watch a short video from the site.
The Houston Zoo is hosting Dr. Michael Cranfield, Executive Director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project as part of our Call of the Wild Lecture Series September 10th, 20009. Please go to http://www.houstonzoo.org/lectureseries/ for ticket information.
Tomorrow’s Blog: Cross River Gorilla – the world’s most endangered great ape.
For more on Year of the Gorilla, go to http://www.yog2009.org/
*This is part 2 of 10 in our Mountain Gorilla Membership Madness giveaway. Post a comment on 3 mountain gorilla blogs before August 14 and enter to win a free Houston Zoo membership!
