Mountain Gorilla

When traveling on the roads of Rubanda district, Uganda, you see pine trees everywhere: tall ones, short ones, big ones, small ones. Some trees may be…

Are the Virunga Mountain Gorillas' closest relatives the Bwindi Mountain Gorillas?

Gorillas are subdivided into two species and four subspecies. In…

Gorilla tourism has played a pivotal role in not only fostering the recovery of the endangered mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) but also…

The concept of net energy balance is familiar to all of us: we eat too many calories and we gain weight; we exercise a lot without changing caloric…

New research from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund analyses more than 50 years of demographic data to examine factors influencing variability in the…

Everywhere in Africa human influence on gorillas and their habitats has become common. Interventions are severe everywhere, not only by deforestation,…

Support for this project was requested because of strong demand from the local population of Rutshuru and Nyiragongo and the city of Goma, due to a…

Climate change is in the media on a daily basis, but the focus is often on arid ecosystems, while we rarely think about its impact on animals living…

We have already supported many projects, which have turned out to be very successful, for the people of Mt. Tshiaberimu. Other communities around the…

"For the past ten years, we had given up on planting maize. Buffalos could raid our farms a few weeks to harvesting and we could make immense losses.…

Respiratory illness outbreaks among wild mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park have declined since the start of COVID-19, according to a…

Visiting mountain gorillas is popular, and many of the visitors proudly present proof of their gorilla trekking in social media. However, to obtain…

A Year of Protection of the Sarambwe Nature Reserve by Trackers Unsupported by Rangers: Results and Lessons Learnt

The protection of protected areas…

On 10 October 2020, a ranger was killed during an attack on the Sarambwe ranger post – we reported it at the time. The national park authority ICCN…

The Sarambwe ranger post was attacked during the evening of 10 October 2020 by a Mai Mai group operating in the vicinity of Sarambwe. A few days…

In 2020, many gorillas were born within the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park's gorilla population; an exceptional number of 6 gorillas within 7 weeks…

Regardless of the scotching sun and laborious work, a delighted face is the perfect description of Jean Bosco Ntawukibiwabo, as he works on a 3 m deep…

Researchers at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund have used more than 50 years of data from Rwanda to discover how maternal loss influences young gorillas'…

The number of mountain gorillas on the Virunga Volcanoes has increased continuously for four decades now, as was shown during the last censuses. The…

For many households around mountain gorilla parks, tourism has been their lifeline. That is until the COVID-19 pandemic affected the tourism industry…

A few years ago, when I was well into my now 30-year career studying gorillas, my father asked me, 'Don't we know enough about gorillas by now?'…

We founded Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) in 2003 to prevent zoonotic diseases being transmitted between people and wildlife following…

In this article we will give an overview of the management of Sarambwe Nature Reserve (SNR) and a history of the attacks that have taken place in the…

When Astrid Ebert and Thomas Schulz visited Bwindi National Park and its gorillas 10 years ago, they were delighted. In view of the Corona pandemic…

The silverback Rafiki was killed in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, presumably by poachers. Rafiki was a member of the mountain gorilla group…

Over the past five years the conservation community has successfully completed what, to date, have been the most intensive and comprehensive…

My entire childhood was spent in the south of France, on a hill between an evergreen oak forest and the garrigue. Our family had a lot of cats, who…

In our last article (Gorilla Journal 58) we wrote about our hope that the encroachment of the Sarambwe Nature Reserve (SNR) by Ugandan farmers in…

It is not easy to convince the local population of the benefits of nature conservation if the living conditions are as difficult as they are in the…

Taking into account the latest census from Bwindi-Sarambwe, and including the figures for Virunga gorillas from the 2015-2016 census, the global total…

The Sarambwe Nature Reserve is well known for its location on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, and its contiguity…

Great ape populations in Africa and Asia are severely threatened by the combined impacts of habitat loss, poaching, illegal trade, and disease. Since…

Finding food and mates is vital for all animals, so that they can grow, maintain metabolic functions, and reproduce. The way animals use their…

The two mountain gorillas from the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda, Coco and Pucker, arrived in the Cologne Zoo in May 1969. At that time it was a very…

As with many types of wildlife tourism, viewing gorillas has grown in popularity since the 1980s. Currently tourists can visit more than 20 gorilla…

In 2015 to 2016 another gorilla census was conducted in the Virunga Volcanoes - and as the censuses before, the result was very positive again. It…

It is with great sadness to inform you about the loss of one of my favorite gorillas in Bwindi, Kanyonyi, the lead silverback of Mubare group. He died…

"One Health" is an approach that addresses human, animal and ecosystem health together. We founded Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) in 2003…

It is 50 years now that Dian Fossey established the Karisoke Research Center to study the little known mountain gorillas in the Volcanoes National…

The Sarambwe Reserve and Mount Tshiaberimu are two refuges for gorillas near the central and northern part of the Virunga National Park, conserving…

In the Sarambwe Reserve, conservation and sensitization activities have been carried out mainly by the trackers and the troops based in Sarambwe (a…

Security problems in the Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of the Congo, have been a severe danger for the park's wildlife and its forests,…

Located close to Virunga National Park, the Sarambwe Reserve and Mount Tshiaberimu are two threatened sites where gorillas still occur. As ecotourism…

The Bwindi Apes Conservation Education Partnership (BACEP) is a collaborative project of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology…

All animals - including humans - must eat to survive. The energy derived from food is necessary to sustain basic metabolic and muscle functions,…

This article documents activities implemented in the Sarambwe Reserve and the almost continuous threats to the conservation of the reserve. It is…

Conflict between people and animals is one of the main threats to the continued survival of many wildlife species and also represents risks to local…

We estimate that Rukina was born around 1984. He was well identified as a group member of the Kyagurilo Group in the late 1990s when he was a young…

Gorillas spend the major part of their life in small social groups led by a mature silverback male. Only young blackback males and mature silverback…