Endangered Mountain Gorillas Show Promising Growth in Population

A new survey on mountain gorillas brings encouraging news: the great primates’ population has grown from just 680 individuals in 2008 up to 1,063 today – a promising sign of conservation efforts heading in the right direction.

The species’ population has significantly dropped over the decades due to unmanaged hunting, disease and loss of habitat, to name a few. But after estimates of the mountain gorillas’ population went over 1,000 individuals last year, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded their status from “critically endangered” to “endangered”.

The new survey results show “what can be accomplished by a cross-border, multipronged, unrelenting effort to protect a species,” says Tara Stoinski, president, CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, which assisted in the survey.

The findings were provided by a conservation group called Fauna and Flora International, which works to protect mountain gorillas, and focused on two areas that make up their home: Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Sarambwe Nature Reserve.