Rare Mountain Gorilla Population Up 12 Percent
By Steve Casimiro on November 16th, 2012
There still aren’t many mountain gorillas left in their forest homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda, but World Wildlife Fund reports that a new tally from the Uganda Wildlife Authority shows that there are now 880 mountain gorillas, up from 786 two years ago when the last census was taken. 400 mountain gorillas now live in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, with 480 in the Virunga Massif. WWF says there are still dangers to the gorillas, however, including entanglement in hunting snares, disease transfer from humans, and habitat loss. The prospect of oil exploration in Congo’s Virunga National Park is also cause for concern. Industrial activity would compromise the integrity of the park, Africa’s first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage site. An influx of workers and heavy equipment could greatly threaten the park’s prized biodiversity, which also includes elephants, hippos, and the rare okapi antelope. Via Treehugger.
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