Saturday, December 13, 2008

Lowland Gorillas, Not so much endangered are they?


Researchers found about 125,000 Lowland Gorillas in central Congo. They said this is about twice more than estimated world population of the gorillas. Steven Sanderson said that the group of researchers never thought this great numbers of the gorillas could live in such a large densities.

The researchers said that it is unfortunate that this fact is announced over the world because this will increase the extinction rate of the Gorillas. Lowland gorillas have been died and killed from diseases and huntings from contacting with humans. The Republic of Congo has become a place for logging and developments, which means that the habitat will be destroyed, and more contacts with humans. Thus large numbers of the gorillas will be killed from hunters, diseases, and destruction of habitats.

Sanderson said that, it is possible to save the gorillas in many ways however. Sanderson is helping to set a limit to loggin trees in Congo, and the Congo government is considering to build a wildlife park to save the lives of Lowland Gorillas.

link to the article:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93254830

-Yi, Jeongsang (12)

22 Comments:

At 4:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where else are these gorillas found? If there is so many gorillas in this area in Congo, why was no one aware of them until now? You said the extinction rate is expected to increase. What is the current extinction rate?

~Allison Cornell (12)

 
At 9:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How is the habitat in Congo where they discovered these lowland gorillas? What is the estimated world population of lowland gorillas? What do you mean by large densities?

SUSAN DUONG

 
At 3:19 PM, Blogger PWH said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 3:20 PM, Blogger PWH said...

It's terrible that extinction rate for these gorillas will most likely increase because people will most likely expand into their habitat. Unless The Republic of Congo does in fact create a reservation for these gorillas I don't see a happy ending for the species. How much would it cost for the Republic of Congo to create a reservation?

-Odmir Rodrigues

12/12/08

 
At 11:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why would telling the world the real numbers increase extinction? If we know they were endangered at first and now there is a lot of them we should be more careful. They can surely enact some type of protection law for these animals.

-Julie Riley

 
At 2:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Poor Gorillas, i hope they can find some way of protecting them. This is a blessing to have found so many of them here. I hope something can be done to save them.

Mia DiFabbio

 
At 3:05 PM, Blogger PWH said...

Are there any laws being made restricting the logging industry from destroying their habitat? It is very good to hear that there are more gorillas than they expected. What diseases are killing these gorillas?


Rob Lubenow

 
At 3:22 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What other things can be done to help the gorillas? How can people like us that are so far away contribute to this cause? Is there a foundation or something? I would like to know. Great article, thanks for helping others become aware.
-Sasha Rogers

 
At 5:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Why would the researchers not expect the gorrillas to like in large groups? I find it sad that humans are not doing much to stop the extinction.

Amanda Joyce

 
At 6:01 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice article. Do you know which areas where the rate of gorrilas are low? What are done to protect these group of species?

- David Huynh

 
At 6:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! With so many animal rights activists out there these days hopefully these groups of gorillas will continue to be safe despite increasing numbers. Any idea if these gorillas are dangerous to humans? Any other negative aspects to an increased population of these gorillas? Nice work!

Ericka Adey

 
At 7:14 PM, Blogger PWH said...

I never thought of it that way, that if you announce something isn't actually extinct everyone will try to go see it or kill it. Even if they create a wildlife reservation for them, can't people still come on tours? What exactly about human exposure effects these gorillas?

Chantal Gomes

 
At 7:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is so sad! Why hasn't anyone found these gorillas before if it was such a large amount? When were they discovered? Can't they make laws to protect these animals? Where else are they found?

Alyson Paige

 
At 8:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm curious as to how researchers found these gorillas. Were they looking specifically for them, or did they just kinda stumble over them while looking for something related? How accurate is the count of 125,000? Gorillas are pretty reclusive, I'm assuming that a fair amount of estimation was used. Is it possible that there might be even more gorillas there than the researchers say?
-Corinne Delisle

 
At 9:52 PM, Blogger PWH said...

this is a growing concern among international communities all around the world, the loss of endangered species due to habitat encroachment and modernization of infrastructure. In the DRC especially because this is home to three out of 4 of the great ape species (Gorilla, Bonobo and Chimpanzee) all of which face the same issues with regard to habitat destruction. There are many groups trying to do more to help these magnificent species but with poor infrastructure and bad communication among people stopping illegal poaching and habitat destruction is an ever growing concern. Check out the group www.bci.org my uncle and his girlfriend head it and they are working to save the Bonobo in the DRC. Great article and I'm glad to see that people care about this issue.


-Joe Alonzo

 
At 11:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow that is sad how sometimes we can’t do much to help even when we know of the bad things that will fallow. But at list the Congo government will be building a wildlife park. But then again even with a wildlife park, these gorillas’s environment will change so much that many might not be about to survive.

Tenzing Y. Dundutsang

 
At 11:07 PM, Blogger pajama said...

It's surprising that so many were just discovered; also unfortunate that this will increase the rate of deaths in the species. How were the gorillas found only recently? I would've imagined such a large population to have been discovered earlier.

~Dan Hong

 
At 11:42 PM, Blogger PWH said...

Interesting article,

What are these species the closest related to? And how are they related to the species that are also found in Africa. And finally, how could sucha large number of this species have been under the radar for so long?


Ahmed Sandakli

 
At 8:10 PM, Blogger PWH said...

interesting, is there a chance these gorillas live some where else in the world we dont know about? can they actually become sick from having contact with humans?

Hessom Minaei

 
At 8:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Were they endangered before? And how many were thought to be left? If this is really a problem there should be an effort in place that protects their habitat in the congo.

Michele Copeland

 
At 8:50 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Were they endangered before? And how many were thought to be left? If this is really a problem there should be an effort in place that protects their habitat in the congo.

Michele Copeland

 
At 2:55 PM, Anonymous Stephen Chiricosta said...

it is awful to think about. i cant believe they found as many as they did. i was a little confused about why telling them the real number could increase the level of extinction.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home