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Population Distribution
Population Decline
The current population of the Eastern Lowland Gorilla is about 2,600 mature individuals in the wild. From the years 1995-2015, there was a 77% decline in their population. Their population is monitored through night nest abundance and distribution. Current nest encounter rates estimate an extinction rate of 5% per year. The eastern lowland gorilla is currently listed as critically endangered according to the IUCN.
Distribution
This subspecies of gorillas once had a habitat range of 8,000 square miles in the DRC. In the past 50 years that range has been reduced to 4,000 square miles. The eastern lowland gorilla is endemic to the forests of the Albertine Rift in the eastern DRC. Their distribution spans from the lowlands east of the Lualaba River to the Mitumba Mountains. They have the widest altitudinal range of any gorilla.
Threats
An ongoing civil war in the DRC has led to poaching, illegal mining, and land clearing among the gorilla populations. It is estimated that there will be a 50% loss in great ape populations by the year 2078 due to poaching and habitat fragmentation. The slow reproductive rate of great apes puts them at an even greater risk of loss.
Mining
There is widespread illegal mining for tin, gold, diamond, and coltan throughout the gorillas habitat range. Mining is responsible for a large amount of deforestation in the DRC. Not only does this mining violate environmental laws, it also violates child labor laws and is an incredibly dangerous operation. Numerous miners have died in abandoned pits from rock slides and there has even been one case of a child drowning.
Poaching
Poaching for bushmeat has led to a rapid reduction of the gorillas population. Gorillas are also hunted for medicine and the illegal capture and trade of the infants. Many rangers have been killed while protecting these gorillas from poachers. Attacks on local villages by rebel groups also puts the rangers and gorillas in harms way. Lack of law enforcement makes it difficult to deal with poaching directly.
Habitat Loss
Humans continue to move into the territory and destroy the habitat to make room for farming and livestock. Slash-and-burn methods have destroyed large areas of land and lack of sustainable agricultural practices leads to further damage. Annual deforestation rates in the DRC have exceeded 1 million hectares in the past five years. The DRC's rapidly growing population continues to threaten the remaining forests.
Why do we need to save them?
Keystone Species
Gorillas act as a keystone species maintaining biodiversity in the forest through seed dispersal and they let in sunlight as they move around the area and open up gaps in the trees. Their large consumption of plants helps to control plant populations and allows for more regrowth. Keeping plant communities healthy allows for more intake of carbon dioxide from the air and more output of oxygen. Protecting gorillas indirectly protects the rest of the forest. If gorillas went extinct, there would be a massive disrupt in the natural balance of the food chain.
Education
Gorillas are one of our closest and largest relatives. We share 98% of our DNA with gorillas. By studying gorillas, and other great apes, we can learn more about our ancestry and genetic diversity with these species. Extinction of this species would be a great loss to evolutionary history.
How to Help
Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund
The Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund works with a staff of 200 people in the DRC and Rwanda to track, study, and protect gorillas. This organization works with the nearby communities to offer food security and education about the importance of their gorilla neighbors. In order for gorillas to survive, the human communities around them must thrive.
World Wildlife Fund
The WWF African Great Apes Program works with the Congolese Wildlife Authority to survey and monitor eastern lowland gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park. This program monitors 80 gorillas belonging to 7 families within the park. There are efforts being made to create a protected area in the Itombwe Forest where there is believed to be a sizeable population of eastern lowland gorillas.
FSC certified forest products
Buying from manufacturers that encourage sustainable forestry can help to save our forests as well as protect our gorillas. The FSC, or Forest Stewardship Council, works to promote sustainable use of forest products in order to protect the health of the worlds forests for future generations.
References:
Eastern Lowland Gorilla | Species | WWF. (n.d.). World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/eastern-lowland-gorilla
Home. (2017, January 11). YouTube. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/39994/115576640#geographic-range
Eastern lowland gorilla. (n.d.). WWF. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/great_apes/gorillas/eastern_lowland_gorilla/
Why Gorillas Matter- Save Gorillas. Save the Planet. - Dian Fossey. (2020, September 23). Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://gorillafund.org/uncategorized/why-gorillas-matter-save-gorillas-save-the-planet/
Democratic Republic of the Congo. (n.d.). African Wildlife Foundation. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.awf.org/country/drc
Schneider, V., Fassio, A., & Belmaker, G. (2020, December 21). Poor governance fuels 'horrible dynamic' of deforestation in DRC. Mongabay. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/poor-governance-fuels-horrible-dynamic-of-deforestation-in-drc/
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