Tuesday, August 5, 2008

299: amazing discovery of thriving gorillas

A very uplifting story from the National Geographic News site today. Apparently, new research from Congo suggests that the population of Western Lowland Gorillas may be twice as high as previously thought. The research indicates that about 125,000 gorillas are living in the region, some of which is officially protected. Conservation agencies hope that this recent survey will encourage the Congolese government to designate further areas as national parkland. Meanwhile, the world of primatology is getting excited - and even though the 'nest counting' methodology used in the census is doubted by some, experts appear to agree that gorillas are thriving in this region and that conservation efforts are working. In addition, there is something thrilling about the fact that, with all the technology we have at our fingertips, we can still stumble across the wonders of this planet in this way and be pleasantly surprised. Wonderful. (Do go to the website via the link in the post title above - there's a great video there. Photo here from National Geographic.)

2 comments:

High Power Rocketry said...

They are going to be fine now...

eazibee said...

Thanks r2k - well, I doubt they'll be fine unless continued efforts are made to preserve their habitat, but, yes, it does look as if they do pretty well when we leave them to their own devices. E