Mountain gorillas: close relatives at risk
By protecting mountain gorillas we’re helping make sure their environment stays healthy for the wildlife and people that depend on it.
Mountain gorilla species:
Affected by: Human wildlife conflict , Habitat loss and fragmentation , Extractives
These great, glorious, fur-coated apes are some of our closest relatives. Sadly we may also be their biggest threat. People have been pushing into the mountain gorilla’s forests in central Africa for decades – now there are only about 1000 of these splendid beasts in the wild.
Mountain gorillas generally live in groups of several females with their young and usually one dominant adult male – known as a ‘silverback’ because of the patch of silver hair on his back and hips.
The main threat to gorillas is people and the associated increasing pressure on the gorilla's habitat. With so few individuals in the wild the mountain gorilla is listed as critically endangered. The good news is, their numbers have recently been rising. It’s not too late for us to protect our mighty mountain cousins.
Cath Lawson Regional Manager East Africa"Seeing mountain gorillas in the wild is an incredible experience. I have wonderful memories of infant gorillas playing with each other and rolly-pollying down the mountain slopes and of the silverback male majestically sitting across from me, using a soft grunting noise to keep check on the rest of his group. It was an immensely humbling experience and one that will remind me for the rest of my life why the work that WWF is doing through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme is so incredibly important."
Where do mountain gorillas live?
Mountain gorillas live in just two isolated groups – one in the Virunga volcanoes – spanning the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and one in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, contiguous with DRC’s Sarambwe Nature Reserve.
Wild mountain gorillas are found in high-altitude montane and bamboo forested habitats, where they mainly eat leaves and shoots.
Why mountain gorillas are so important
Gorillas, like all wild animals, play an important role in their environment. Without these large-scale grazers eating lots of vegetation, the natural balance in the food chain would be disrupted. This could negatively affect other wildlife in the area, and ultimately the people who depend on that environment for food, water and other resources.
Ecotourism – socially and environmentally responsible tourist visits, including carefully guided trips to see gorillas – can also be an important source of income for local people living in close proximity to wild gorillas.
Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
A big recent threat was the risk of oil exploration in Virunga National Park, home to around a quarter of all mountain gorillas. We took action and launched a successful campaign to remove the most immediate threat to the park, which we saw as an unacceptable risk for Virunga’s environment, people and wildlife. However, this doesn't remove the threat to Virunga National Park (or indeed to the wider Bwindi-Virunga region) completely as concessions for oil exploration cover more than 85% of the park’s area.
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Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
The mountain gorilla range is highly restricted by temperature in their habitat. As a mountainous animal, climate change is a particular problem, as they have nowhere higher and colder to escape to from the warming conditions lower down. They also live exclusively within protected areas surrounded by human populations, which allows no room for migration elsewhere.
More about climate change
Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
Mountain gorillas live in some of the most densely-populated parts of Africa – and a lot of their living space has been lost to make more room for people. The gorillas are now confined to isolated high-altitude forests. Unsustainable use of some natural resources, like wood for fuel, puts added strain on the gorilla’s environment.
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Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
Gorillas can contract diseases from people and their immune systems may not cope – a cold can have devastating impacts on a gorilla population. Although poaching of gorillas is now thankfully rare, they may still get caught in snares set for other wildlife. Regional conflict and civil unrest can also make protecting the gorillas more challenging.
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Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
We’re supporting sustainable eco-tourism initiatives, to help protect the landscape and mountain gorillas and benefit local communities. In addition to creating increased employment opportunities in the tourism sector, we’ve helped to introduce mechanisms, such as revenue sharing schemes, to ensure that local people benefit directly from this tourism. Profits from a range of sustainable tourism activities are ploughed back into the community via a diverse range of enterprises, helping to reduce poverty pressure and create financial incentives for conservation efforts.
Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
We’re supporting a range of methods to help reduce human-wildlife conflict. For example, we’ve helped local people to establish tea plantations to create a ‘buffer zone’ between some areas of mountain gorilla habitat and human settlement. Tea isn’t palatable to gorillas, so they are less tempted to wander onto agricultural land searching for food. We also work with community patrols who can chase mountain gorillas and other wildlife back into the forest if they stray onto people’s land whilst also collecting important monitoring data to inform future management of conflict.
More about human-wildlife conflict
Challenges affecting mountain gorillas
We’re working to strengthen community and ranger based monitoring of mountain gorillas, their habitats, and the associated threats. We also help to carry out census surveys of the remaining mountain gorilla populations. All of which helps to ensure that management and policy decisions are based on good quality scientific data.