Celebrating A Hundred Years of Mountain Gorilla Conservation

Washington, D.C., October 14, 2002 - The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) announced today that a baby mountain gorilla was rescued from poachers by Rwandan authorities on the 4th of October. The baby is being kept under observation by Park authorities. Staff are discussing what next steps need to be taken to hopefully reintroduce the infant into the gorilla population.

"This week marks the 100th anniversary of the first European discovery of the mountain gorilla, and saving this baby gorilla showcases the steady and determined efforts of the first century of modern gorilla conservation," said Patrick J. Bergin, Ph.D., President and CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation.

Ironically, it was a hundred years ago, on October 17, 1902, that Captain Oscar von Beringei catapulted the apes to the attention of western science by shooting two gorillas. Those killings immortalized Beringei's own fame when the mountain gorilla later received the taxonomic designation Gorilla beringei beringei.

Africa's Volcano National Park, (IUCN Biosphere Reserve), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and Parc National des Virunga (UNESCO World Heritage Sites) which stretch across Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are home to an estimated 670 mountain gorillas. They are the rarest of the great apes.

Mountain gorillas have a slow rate of reproduction. Females give birth for the first time at about age 10 and will have more offspring every three or four years. A male reaches sexual maturity between 12 and 15 years, when he is in charge of his own group. Able to conceive for only about three days each month, the female produces a single young and in rare cases twins.

Newborn gorillas weigh about four pounds. Their movements are as awkward as those of human infants, but their development is roughly twice as fast. At 3 or 4 months, the gorilla infant can sit upright and can stand with support soon after. It suckles regularly for about a year and is gradually weaned at about 31/2 years, when it becomes more independent.

The gorilla is shy and retiring rather than ferocious. It usually seeks no trouble unless harassed. However, the dominant male will valiantly defend his family group if threatened. Family groups are close-knit and may have up to 30 members, but even if smaller, the group usually consists of at least one older male, one or more females and a few juveniles.

Gorillas have strong attachments to members of their own group. Even when groups meet and mingle, and then subsequently part, each animal tends to remain with its respective unit. The silverback (adult male gorillas), named for the silvery gray hairs on its back, normally leads each group, serving as its chief protector and defender. Gorillas continually wander through their home ranges of 10 to 15 square miles, feeding and resting throughout the day.

Because mountain gorillas are nomadic, they build new nests each day at dusk, constructing them of bent branches or of grasses on the ground. For the last century the mountain gorillas have survived despite tremendous threats that have included wars, poaching, poverty, disease, and the loss of their habitat.

Conservation efforts dating back to 1979, (even through recent periods of armed conflict and genocide) and have succeeded in stemming the loss of the gorillas through a wide-array of techniques, including: transboundary collaboration, protection and anti-poaching activities (poachers have destroyed entire family groups in their attempts to capture infant gorillas for zoos, while others are killed to sell their heads and hands as trophies), habitat conservation, community participation, and economic alternatives development. The program doing this critically important work is called the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP), active regionally across all Mountain Gorilla rage in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The African Wildlife Foundation, as part of an international coalition supporting IGCP, has led the charge in the United States to support the great apes of Africa for more than two decades. The Flora and Fauna International supports the IGCP from the United Kingdom and World Wild Fund for Nature in countries other than the USA and UK.

To date, AWF has supported IGCP by assisting in the development of conservation strategies, training park personnel, helping communities develop viable conservation enterprises by helping local communities gain economic benefits from their involvement in conservation efforts, and by raising more than 5 million dollars in funding.

"Over the past two decades we have confronted the myriad threats to the mountain gorillas - ranging from poaching, to loss of forest habitat, to spread of disease - and still the mountain gorillas not only survive but their numbers grow. Given their resiliency, we are very optimistic that with skilled interventions, such as those of IGCP, the mountain gorillas will survive not only another 100 years, but indeed in perpetuity," said Katie Frohardt, AWF's Program Technical Director and former IGCP Rwanda Director (1995-97).

Founded in 1961 the African Wildlife Foundation is the leading conservation organization focused solely on the African continent. It designs sustainable conservation strategies that are based on science that are compatible with human benefit. Since its inception AWF has protected endangered species by saving their habitat and training hundreds of Africans in conservation to ensure the survival of Africa's wildlife heritage. The African Wildlife Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Washington, D.C. with regional offices in Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.