A coalition of conservation groups is joining in a plan of action to save the world's rarest great ape - the Cross River gorilla - which is threatened by habitat destruction and poachers.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group, and others have published recommendations for governmental agencies to protect the species - which is scattered in 11 locations along the mountainous border region between Cameroon and Nigeria.
“Although the situation looks dire for the Cross River gorilla, it is far from hopeless,” said Dr. James Deutsch, director of WCS’ Africa Program. “At first glance, the population seems to be fragmented, but we have evidence of occasional migrations between some of the locations, a finding that improves the prospects for saving these gorillas.”
Classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN’s Red List, the Cross River gorilla is the rarest of the four subspecies of gorilla, numbering under 300 individuals across its entire range. Gorilla gorilla diehli is one of two subspecies of western gorilla, the other being Gorilla gorilla gorilla, the western lowland gorilla. The eastern gorilla includes the eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), and the famous mountain gorillas of the Virunga Mountains and southern Uganda (Gorilla beringei beringei).
The biggest threats to Cross River gorillas are from habitat destruction and hunting. Gorillas are occasionally targeted by hunters of bushmeat in the region, and genetic analysis of the population reveals a reduction in numbers over the last 200 years that is most likely due to hunting. The fragmentation of their forest habitat is caused by farming, road-building, and the burning of forests by pastoralists.
To counter these threats, authors of the report have compiled a series of recommendations that include: Cooperative, landscape-based planning between conservation managers across the Cameroon-Nigeria border; raising awareness of the uniqueness of the Cross River gorilla and conservation in general, involving government agencies, NGOs, and local people in community-based conservation activities, the formulation of an ecotourism program that both benefits conservation and minimizes potential impacts on the gorillas, improving both existing legislation and law enforcement in the Cross River gorilla’s range and upgrading the infrastructure and management of existing protected areas and establishing new protected areas, with a number of site-specific recommendations.
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