World Gorilla Day provides an opportunity for people all over the world to come together to celebrate gorillas and commit to taking action to protect gorillas in the wild.
Humans share 98.3% of the genetic code with gorillas.
There are two primary species of gorilla, eastern and western, which each have two subspecies. Western gorillas are divided between western lowland gorillas and Cross River gorillas. Eastern gorillas are mountain gorillas and Grauer’s gorillas. The western lowland gorilla, the type of gorilla typically found in zoos, has the most robust population, with about 350,000 animals in the wild. But the mountain gorrilas are critically endangered with only around 880 in the wild.
Gorilla's population has been declining for decades due to a low rate of reproduction: a female bears only 3 to 4 babies in her lifetime.
Mountain gorillas live in just two isolated groups – one in the Virunga volcanoes – spanning the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and one in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, contiguous with DRC’s Sarambwe Nature Reserve.
The main threat to gorillas is people and the associated increasing pressure on the gorilla's habitat. With so few individuals in the wild the mountain gorilla is listed as critically endangered. The good news is, their numbers have recently been rising. It’s not too late for us to protect our mighty mountain cousins.
Sources: internationaldays.co, wwf.org.uk
LET'S FIGHT TO SAVE THE MOST ENDANGERED
VAKOVAKO will soon fight to save the most endangered. 100 % of all donations given via our app to „MOST ENDANGERED '' area will be transferred to related NGOs. Let’s help them expand their activities together.