After years of uncertainty, an international team of conservationists has finally been able to confirm the number of
Grauer’s gorillas left in the world.Formerly known as the eastern lowland gorilla, this massive mammal is the largest primate on Earth. Despite its enormous size, years of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo have decimated this subspecies’ populations. On top of that, scientists have only been able to make rough estimates as to how many of these long-limbed, stocky relatives of ours still exist. But now that conflict in the region is abating, scientists have been able to conduct
They’d suspected the worst. But what they found was even more upsetting than they could have imagined: since 1994 (the year of Rwandan genocide), Grauer’s gorilla populations have dropped by 77%, and fewer than 3,800 of the animals remain. What’s more, 80% of those losses occurred in the span of just one generation—a rate three times higher than what it takes to officially declare that a species is on the verge of extinction. Experts are now lobbying for the International Union for Conservation of Nature to change the gorilla’s status from “endangered” to “critically endangered.”
Before the Rwandan genocide, there were at least 17,000 Grauer’s gorillas inhabiting Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). But as Rwandans fled to Zaire, underground forces became a prime example of how human geopolitics can rock a region’s wildlife.
Here’s Rachel Nuwer, reporting for The New York Times:
An estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed over a three-month period, while hundreds of thousands more fled to neighboring Zaire. Some of those refugees formed militias such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and the forest served as their stronghold and hide-out.
Instability soon spread, leading to the overthrow of President Mobutu Sese Seko and civil war in the newly formed Democratic Republic of Congo. From 1996 to 2003, that conflict cost the lives of an estimated five million people, and also brought the formation of more armed groups, 69 of which continue to operate in the eastern part of the country.
Bushmeat feeds many of them, and gorillas, which can weigh up to 400 pounds, prove easy and worthwhile targets.
Illegal mining sites in the area brought in more jobs, too—leading to increased demand for food and, subsequently, more frequent gorilla deaths. And almost 200 park rangers have been killed in eastern Congo, making Grauer’s gorillas even more vulnerable.
But there’s some good news. Now that conservationists know just how endangered these animals are, renewed efforts will go into keeping the remaining 3,800 safe. The team that conducted the survey is currently speaking with community leaders about establishing two new protected areas that would encompass 60% of the remaining gorillas’ habitat—as well as other tactics to get eastern Congo back on its feet.