International Gorilla Conservation Programme

The goal of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) is to ensure the conservation of mountain gorillas and their regional afromontane forest habitat in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

African Wildlife Foundation: Gorilla Conservation

For the mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) of the Virunga Heartland, extinction is a very real threat. Fewer than 800 of these charismatic animals remain.

ONCE AND FUTURE PRIMATE ORDER

In an unprecedented gathering of primate specialists, new taxonomic classifications were confirmed that reveal many more species of primates exist than previously estimated.

The gorillas, previously considered a single species, were divided into two species and five subspecies. The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) includes the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of the Virunga Volcanoes area of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the yet unnamed, but distinct, population of Uganda's Bwindi (Impenetrable) Forest, and the eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri). Western Africa is home to at least two additional taxa, the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli). The mountain, Bwindi and Cross River gorilla populations all number only in the hundreds and are considered critically endangered.

PRIMATES ON THE BRINK

After surviving a century with no extinctions, 25 species of apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates now risk disappearing forever, according to a report released today by Conservation International and the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN — the World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission.

"The Cross River gorilla is a good example of why we must be very careful not to neglect possible diversity. In the nick of time we have realized these gorillas are distinct, just before it is finally too late to save them from oblivion," said Dr. John F. Oates, primatologist with Hunter College - CUNY, and co-author with Esteban Sarmiento of the American Museum of Natural History, of the re-description of the Cross River gorilla."

International Species Information System (ISIS)

714 Western Lowland Gorillas are listed in the ISIS Abstracts, including 14 Births (last 6 months). Only 4 Eastern Lowland Gorillas were reported living in two zoos — Antwerp and Houston. Apparently, there are no Cross River, Mountain or Bwindi Gorillas living in zoos.

In a cooperative project between the Cincinnati Zoo and Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, Nebraska, a female lowland gorilla was born on 9 October 1995 as a result of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.