125,000 Endangered Gorillas Found in the Congo!

[DomS]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/...go.gorillas/index.html

(CNN) -- An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.
Researchers have revealed the discovery of 125,000 Western lowland gorillas in northern Congo.

Researchers have revealed the discovery of 125,000 Western lowland gorillas in northern Congo.

"It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday.

The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

WCS survey teams conducted the research in 2006 and 2007, traveling to the remote Lac Tele Community Reserve in northern Republic of Congo, a vast area of swamp forest.

Acting on a tip from hunters who indicated the presence of gorillas, Rainey said that the researchers trekked on foot through mud for three days to the outskirts of Lac Tele, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest road.

"When we went there, we found an astonishing amount of gorillas," said Rainey, speaking from the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Though researchers did spot some gorillas, they based their estimate on the number of gorilla nests found at the site, Rainey said. Each gorilla makes a nest to sleep in at night.

"This is the highest-known density of gorillas that's ever been found," Rainey said.

Western lowland gorillas are listed as critically endangered, the highest threat category for a species. Their populations are declining rapidly because of hunting and diseases like ebola hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.

While the discovery in northern Congo indicates that the gorilla population remains stable in some areas, it is likely that gorillas will remain critically endangered because the threats facing the species are so great, Rainey said.

"We know very little about ebola and how it spreads," he said. "We don't even know the animal that spreads it around."

The goal now, Rainey said, is to work with the Congolese government and donors to protect the areas in which the gorillas are known to be living.

Western lowland gorillas, which are found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria as well as the Republic of Congo, are the most numerous and wide-ranging of the four gorilla subspecies, each of which is threatened by extinction, the WCS says.

Illegal hunting and habitat loss have also threatened the Cross River gorillas, found in the highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria. Only about 250 to 300 are estimated to remain in the world, the WCS says.

War, habitat loss, poaching and disease are the major threats to the mountain gorillas, made famous by researcher Dian Fossey and the film "Gorillas in the Mist." The mountain gorilla population is starting to recover after decades of conservation work. From a population of around 230 in the 1970s, the mountain gorillas now number around 700, the WCS says.

Poaching and war have also threatened populations of Grauer's gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. The WCS estimates their population to be around 16,000.

News of the discovery of the Western lowland gorillas in northern Congo comes the same week as a report that almost 50 percent of the world's primates are in danger of extinction.

The report, also delivered to the Edinburgh conference, cites habitat loss and hunting as the greatest threats. The situation is especially dire in Asia, where the report says more than 70 percent of monkeys, apes, and other primates are classified as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature issued the report.

That's amazing, I always like hearing stories like these. Hopefully poachers don't run amok with this population.

 

[PingSpike]

They're gearing up for the final assault!

 

[TheVrolok]

Not so endangered now eh!

 

[BassBomb]

When I was young (8-12) I was fascinated by endangered + extinct species and it used to make me so sad that we have been the reason for most of these problems.

I hope these make it and they probably would last longer had they not been discovered.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: DomS
That's amazing, I always like hearing stories like these. Hopefully poachers don't run amok with this population.

Well, the poachers now know where they are.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Not so endangered now eh!

At least they weren't, until these guys spilled the beans and told poachers where to find a whole bunch of gorillas.

 

[MaxDepth]

Gorilla Grodd!

 

[Ronstang]

The numbers are only surprising because all the so called "experts" have been reporting the numbers they WANT to be true all these years. It is not that they want the species to be endangered, but then again they do because it fits their agenda. It is rather sad where science has gone over the years.

 

[Queasy]

Do they use rocks as weapons to smash human heads? If so, we need to steal their diamonds to make a laser gun.


/Congo movie reference

 

[Fritzo]

Woohoo! Fire up the gorilla steaks.

 

[StormRider]

It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
The numbers are only surprising because all the so called "experts" have been reporting the numbers they WANT to be true all these years. It is not that they want the species to be endangered, but then again they do because it fits their agenda. It is rather sad where science has gone over the years.

Yeah its too bad that science has degenerated to the point of thinking that undiscovered animals don't exist. It's also too bad that religion has deteriorated into blowing people up with car bombs.

 

[Josh]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1

Originally posted by: Ronstang
The numbers are only surprising because all the so called "experts" have been reporting the numbers they WANT to be true all these years. It is not that they want the species to be endangered, but then again they do because it fits their agenda. It is rather sad where science has gone over the years.

Yeah its too bad that science has degenerated to the point of thinking that undiscovered animals don't exist. It's also too bad that religion has deteriorated into blowing people up with car bombs.

:Q

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: DomS
That's amazing, I always like hearing stories like these. Hopefully poachers don't run amok with this population.

Well, the poachers now know where they are.

That what I was thinking. The gorillas would have been better off undiscovered.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
Not so endangered now eh!

At least they weren't, until these guys spilled the beans and told poachers where to find a whole bunch of gorillas.

this.

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions --

*taps sarcasm meter*

 

[TheTony]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
The numbers are only surprising because all the so called "experts" have been reporting the numbers they WANT to be true all these years. It is not that they want the species to be endangered, but then again they do because it fits their agenda. It is rather sad where science has gone over the years.

Even with this discovery, they're still considered endangered.

 

[Josh]

Originally posted by: Slick5150

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: DomS
That's amazing, I always like hearing stories like these. Hopefully poachers don't run amok with this population.

Well, the poachers now know where they are.

That what I was thinking. The gorillas would have been better off undiscovered.

They were probably hiding. Why don't the scientists just leave the species alone instead of trying to find out where they are living,etc & giving away their locations to poachers?

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

I miss the dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoths. But damn humans killed them all.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

I miss the dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoths. But damn humans killed them all.

Ever since we moved from the courtesy of Fred's two feet to the internal combustion engine, it's been all downhill.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

I really am surprised humans made it at all. And not in modern BS. I mean in the begining. Our newborn are completely helpless. A horse can walk within minutes of birth as can most animals. I like the line in "The Mosquito Coast" where Harrison Fords character is about to croak and he goes on on how badly designed the human body is. And it really is a bad design. Our major parts are fully exposed and so on.

 

[Oceandevi]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

Lions ate grass and played checkers with the sheep... until humans came!

 

[BillGates]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

I miss the dinosaurs, saber tooth tigers and woolly mammoths. But damn humans killed them all.

I was going to say that too... Luckily we killed off the dinosaurs, they were huge and dangerous!

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

There were no extinctions??

Have you heard of these things called dinosaurs?

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

Humans are one of mother nature's creatures. Mother nature is a bitch.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: StormRider
It's sad that we humans are the cause of all mother nature's problems. Before we came aboard, all of nature lived in harmony. There were no extinctions -- everything was in perfect balance. But then we came into being and disrupted the balance of nature. Just by existing, we cause nature and its surroundings to change. We humans must find a way to exist in this world in such a way as to have zero effect on the environment -- in other words, we must exist as if we don't exist. Only then will mother nature find peace.

The only life that matters is advanced intelligent life. The universe is our kingdom to do with as we please. The earth without humans is a meaningless void.