Mountain Gorilla

There are two species of gorilla, the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) and western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). The eastern species of gorilla consists of two subspecies, the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) and Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri). The mountain gorilla is classified as Endangered (B1ab(iii) on the IUCN Red List (Hickey et al. 2018), which means it faces an very high risk of extinction in the wild.

The mountain gorilla is found in two isolated subpopulations, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, and the Virunga Volcanoes region straddling the border between Rwanda (Volcanoes National Park), Uganda (Mgahinga Gorilla National Park), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Virunga National Park). The Virunga mountain gorillas are the best known of all gorilla populations due to the legacy of primatologist Dian Fossey and having been studied since 1967. The most recent survey shows that the Virunga population is increasing, although still small at 600 individuals and facing many threats (Hickey et al. 2019). The Bwindi population appears to be stable at about 400 individuals (Hickey et al. 2019).

'References

Hickey, J.R., Basabose, A., Gilardi, K.V., Greer, D., Nampindo, S., Robbins, M.M. & Stoinski, T.S. (2018). Gorilla beringei ssp. beringei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39999/17989719.

Hickey, J.R., Granjon, A.C., Vigilant, L., Eckardt, W., Gilardi, K.V., Cranfield, M., Musana, A., Masozera, A.B., Babaasa, D., Ruzigandekwe, F. & Robbins, M.M. (2019). Virunga 2015–2016 surveys: monitoring mountain gorillas, other select mammals, and illegal activities. GVTC, IGCP & partners, Kigali, Rwanda.