Research

In October 1902, Captain Robert von Beringe (1865-1940) shot two large apes during an expedition to establish the boundaries of German East Africa (Schaller, 1964). One of the apes was recovered and sent to the Zoological Museum in Berlin, where Professor Paul Matschie (1861-1926) classified the animal as a new form of gorilla and named it Gorilla beringei after the man who discovered it (BRD). In 1925 Carl Akeley, a hunter from the American Museum of Natural History who wished to study the gorillas, convinced King Albert to establish the Albert National Park to protect the animals of the Virunga mountains (Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund - UK [DFGFUK]).

George Schaller began his 20 month observation of the Mountain Gorillas in 1959, subsequently publishing two books: The Mountain Gorilla and The Year of the Gorilla. Little was known about the life of Mountain Gorillas before his research, which described their social organization, life history, and ecology (DFGFUK). Following Schaller, Dian Fossey began what would become a 13 year study in 1967. Fossey made new observations, completed the first accurate census, and established active conservation practices, such as anti-poaching patrols.

Threats

Mountain Gorillas are threatened by poaching, loss of habitat, and human disease.

Poaching: Mountain Gorillas are not usually hunted for bushmeat, but they are frequently maimed or killed by traps and snares intended for other animals. They have been killed for their heads, hands, and feet, which are sold to collectors. Infants are sold to zoos, researchers, and people who want them as pets. The abduction of infants generally involves the loss of at least one adult, as members of a group will fight to the death to protect their young.

Habitat loss: The forests where Mountain Gorillas live are surrounded by rapidly increasing human settlement. The humans' need for land, food, and timber encroaches on the gorillas' habitat through roads, slash-and-burn agriculture, and logging. The resulting deforestation confines the gorillas to isolated forest islands. Some groups may raid crops for food, creating further animosity and retaliation.

Disease: Humans and gorillas are genetically similar enough that gorillas are vulnerable to many of the same diseases as humans. However, gorillas have not developed the immunities to resist human diseases, and infections could severely impact the population. Habituated groups that are visited by tourists have the greatest risk.

Responses

Conservation requires work at many levels, form local to international, and involves protection and law enforcement as well as research and education.

"Active: conservation includes frequent patrols in wildlife areas to destroy poacher equipment and weapons, firm and prompt law enforcement, census counts in regions of breeding and ranging concentration, and strong safeguards for the limited habitat the animals occupy" (Fossey 1983).

"Theoretical: conservation seeks to encourage growth in tourism by improving existing roads that circle the mountains, by renovating the park headquarters and tourists' lodging, and by the habituation of gorillas near the park boundaries for tourists to visit and photograph" (Fossey 1983).

Community-based: conservation supports African ownership, provides education on the personal as well as environmental benefits of preserving protected areas, and encourages local people to take pride in and assume some of the responsibility for the protection of their parks (Fossey 1983).
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