The Last Stand of the Gorilla

Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) Savage, 1847

Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) (Savage, 1847) Red List: Critically Endangered Distribution: Angola (Cabinda only), Cameroon, Central Af- rican Republic, Congo, DRC (far western border near Cabinda only), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon. CITES: Appendix I since 1975 CMS: Annex 1 since 2005 Population: Fewer than 200,000. In 2008 the discovery of previously uncounted gorilla populations with higher than expected densities in northern Congo led to a reappraisal of the number of Western Lowland Gorillas. The widely reported figure of 125,000 ‘lost’ gorillas was erroneous because at least 46,000 of this number had previously been counted (Stokes, et al. , 2008). Nonetheless, the dense populations reported from Raphia swamps boosted population estimates to twice the pre- vious estimate. This should not detract from the seriousness of the declines reported by Walsh, et al. , 2003 (a 50 per cent decline in Gabon due to a combination of ebola and bushmeat hunting). The fact that ebola outbreaks pose a more serious threat to dense populations and the continuing threat of com- mercial bushmeat hunters led the IUCN Red List Assessment to retain the Critically Endangered status despite the revised population estimate.

Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) (Matschie, 1904; Sarmiento and Oates, 2000) Red List: Critically Endangered Distribution: Nigeria (Cross River State only) and Cameroon (SW Province only). CITES: Appendix I since 1975 CMS: Annex 1 since 2005 Population: Fewer than 300, in 11 sub-populations this is the most endangered kind of gorilla. In the 1970s it was thought to be extinct in Nigeria and heading that way in Cameroon, but recent surveys conclude there are 75–110 individuals in Nigeria and 125–185 in Cameroon (Oates et al. , 2007). The Cross River Gorilla featured in the IUCN list of the World’s 25 Most Endan- gered Primates 2008–2010.

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