Category: News

Introduction: The Cross River Gorilla occurs in roughly 11 distinct forest sites across a 12,000km2 landscape with fewer than 300 individuals remaining. Four of these sites are found within the boundaries of the Okwangwo Division of Cross River National Park in Nigeria and the contiguous Takamanda National Park (proposed) in Cameroon. These four sites constitute roughly 30% (or approximately 100 individuals) of the remaining Cross River Gorilla population, and at least one of the sites is trans-boundary with the gorillas frequently crossing the international boundary in either direction. Given the large number of people living around and also within Okwangwo-Takamanda, raising awareness about the value of conservation in general and the uniqueness of these gorillas in particular must be a major component of a long-term conservation program. Education and awareness efforts in recent years have already contributed to a significant reduction of gorilla hunting but these efforts need to be strengthened and expanded in this the heart of the gorillas range.

Objectives: To improve the survival prospects of the Cross River Gorilla through increasing levels of awareness in the Okwangwo-Takamanda region. Specifically, this will be achieved through the implementation of a broad-based outreach program, including the development and use of appropriately adapted local materials such as radio programs, thematic conservation films and a transboundary education campaign targeted at local hunters. Conservation challenges such as river poisoning, over-hunting, lack of understanding of wildlife laws, bush burning etc will be covered using these various media.

Alignment to Cross River Gorilla Regional Action Plan: This proposal is based on Priority Action 1 of the Regional Action Plan “Promoting Education and Awareness”.

Benefits: The education and awareness program is designed to build awareness and support for conservation, resulting in changed behaviour related to key threats faced by the Cross River Gorillas such as habitat loss, hunting etc. The human population of this area is approximately 60,000 people from roughly 56 villages. The outreach programme will be focused on working with both schools and communities from this area.

Funding needed: €110,000
Develop locally made films – €8,000
Production and broadcast of radio programmes – €10,000
Update education materials – €12,000
Transboundary Rare Pride campaign (see below) – €80,000
WCS intends to partner with Rare Pride, an organization supporting conservation education programmes in 40 countries and with more than 200 partners. Rare has trained more than 120 conservation education coordinators and has supported activities that have influenced the lives of more than 6.8 million people.

Timeframe: The above budget is related to activities over a 24-month period.

Implementing Partners: Implementation of these activities will be overseen by WCS in collaboration with the Nigeria National Parks Service in Nigeria and with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and Programme for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources in Cameroon.

It’s not all bad news for gorillas despite the crisis in the DR Congo, there is good news in Nigeria and Cameroon for the worlds most endangered gorilla species.  The Cross River gorilla, the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies has a new protected area to protect it. The species is found only in Nigeria and Cameroon is threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation due to farming, roads and burning, as well as hunting for bushmeat.

The new park called Takamanda National Park is a transboundary park that protects the 115 cross river gorillas (a third of the worlds population) and other endangered animals like chimapnzees, drills and forest elephants to wonder freely in both countries.  It’s creation represents many years of work led by WCS and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Cameroon and local communities.

This project is funded by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife and the German Development Bank (Kreditanstalt fűr Wiederaufbau Bankengruppe) as part of a 5-year funding program to protect key conservation areas in collaboration with local communities in southwest Cameroon. The initiative is also supported by the World Wildlife Fund, the German Development Service (DED) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

The cross river gorilla is one of four species of gorillas, the other subspecies include: western lowland gorillas, eastern lowland or “Grauer’s” gorillas, restricted to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and mountain gorillas, made famous by Dian Fossey and George Schaller. Earlier this year, WCS scientists discovered more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas in the northern Republic of Congo. All gorilla species  are classified as “critically endangered” or “endangered” by the IUCN Red List.

August 27, 2004 (Torino, Italy) – Scientists fear that emerging evidence may suggest a new outbreak of the ebola virus, which, in addition to threatening human lives, would threaten tens of thousands of great apes –  in this case gorillas and chimpanzees – in the Republic of Congo. The findings were released at the International Primatological Society’s 20^th Congress, being held this week in Turin, Italy.

Congo’s Odzala National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, contains an estimated 30,000 western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), the largest such population of the Endangered species in the world. Until recently, hundreds could regularly be spotted in Lokoue Bai, a natural clearing in the park where separate groups of the gorillas predictably congregated. But whereas 45 groups of gorillas (each with an average of eight individuals) were once normally observed there, the number has plummeted to only nine groups in recent months.

“We have not confirmed this as an outbreak of ebola yet, but there are clear indications that we need to take that possibility seriously,” said Dr. Dieudonnè Ankara, Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP) Focal Point for Congo, a veterinarian who confirmed these recent developments. “This situation demands serious attention, since another ebola outbreak would have devastating effects not only for wildlife, but for my neighbors who call the area home.”

Fewer than 100,000 western lowland gorillas remain on Earth. A study published in the journal Nature last year suggested that when an ebola outbreak affects a given area, more than 80 percent of all great apes living in that area die of the disease.

Odzala National Park is also home to other threatened species, including the Endangered chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), the Endangered African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), and the Vulnerable lion (Panthera leo). The massive 13,600 square kilometer park sits in northeastern Congo, near the Gabonese border to the west and Cameroon to the north.

Scientists say that several courses of action should be taken immediately to determine if the sudden and dramatic disappearance of these gorillas is related to a new ebola outbreak:

• Field researchers already in the region, from groups including Ecofac, Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Rennes, need greater resources to increase the amount of monitoring in the park, in order to determine which species, if any, have been affected by ebola, and in which part of the park they reside.

• After affected regions have been identified, create geographical barriers, such as making rivers impassable, to decrease the likelihood of any further spread.

• Increase funding for ebola vaccines for the great apes, which have already proven successful in monkeys and are showing greater promise in humans.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there have been two other outbreaks of ebola since 2000, both of which claimed thousands of great apes. The first, in 2000 and 2001, was centered in Uganda. More than half of the 425 human cases reported during that outbreak resulted in death. The second outbreak occurred in 2001 and 2002 in Uganda and the Republic of Congo; 79 percent of the 122 reported human cases in that outbreak resulted in death.

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often-fatal disease that affects humans and non-human primates, such as monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees. Researchers believe the disease, which first emerged in 1976, is zoonotic, or animal-borne. Many scientists believe the disease is spread through the butchering and handling of primate bushmeat. The disease has been confirmed only in six African nations: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Gabon, Sudan, Cote D’Ivoire, and Uganda.

“There is good news and bad news here,” said Christophe Boesch, Professor at the Max Planck Institute in Leipsig, Germany. “Although it would be disasterous to the great apes if another outbreak of ebola is confirmed, we still have it in our grasp to save a large number of these primates, man’s closest living relatives. The international community and non-governmental institutions must continue to commit resources to the Congo Basin, one of the last remaining tracts of wilderness in the world.”

Western lowland gorillas can grow to six feet tall when standing, and can weigh up to 450 pounds. They have a broad chest, a muscular neck, and strong hands and feet. Short, thin, grey-black to brown-black hair covers their entire body, except the face. Many bear a distinctive ginger-colored crown. In comparison to mountain gorillas, western lowland gorillas have wider and larger skulls. They are characterized as quiet, peaceful, and non- aggressive animals, and almost never attack unless provoked.

The relatively intact forests of western equatorial Africa are regarded as the last strongholds of African apes. Gabon and Congo hold 80 percent of the world’s gorillas and most of the Central African chimpanzees. The population of apes in Congo declined by more than half between 1983 and 2000.

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The Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP), an innovative partnership comprised of UNEP, UNESCO, governments and non-governmental organizations, has an immediate challenge to lift the threat of imminent extinction facing most populations of great apes, namely gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees), and orangutans. More information about GRASP can be found at http://www.unep.org/grasp/ or www.unesco.org/mab/grasp.htm. 

The International Primatological Society was created to encourage all area of non-human primatological scientific research, to facilitate cooperation among scientists of all nationalities engaged in primate research, and to promote the conservation of all primate species. The Society is organized exclusively for scientific, educational and charitable purposes. More information about the IPS Congress can be found at http://www.ips2004.unito.it/about.html.