World's most endangered gorillas spotted with infants in Nigeria's forest

First-ever images of a group of Cross River gorillas with several infants have been captured by the Remote camera trap monitoring by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The rare sighting was recorded on Mbe Mountains in cross river state, Nigeria, and is an indication that Cross River gorillas are reproducing due to the field-based protection efforts. Critically endangered, the species were last in 2012 in Cameroon’s Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary when only about 300 were alive, according to a release by the WCS.  

Cross River gorillas are rarely seen, let alone photographed, even by remote cameras, WCS said in a statement. 

“It is extremely exciting to see so many young Cross River gorillas – an encouraging indication that these gorillas are now well protected and reproducing successfully, after previous decades of hunting,” Director of WCS Nigeria’s Cross River Landscape, Inaoyom Imong, said. “While hunters in the region may no longer target gorillas, the threat of hunting remains, and we need to continue to improve the effectiveness of our protection efforts,” he added. Home to about a third of the Nigerian gorilla population, the Mbe Mountains forest, provides an important link between Afi Mountain and Okwangwo, which have been managed jointly by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains as a community wildlife sanctuary since 2005.  

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It is wonderful to see images of gorillas from the Mbe Mountains that show so many young animals, indicating that the population there is in good health— Professor John Oates, lead author of the first Cross River gorilla action plan in 2007 said.  

16 eco-guards for law enforcement patrol

Classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Cross-River gorillas face threats to their habitat due to logging and wood harvesting, according to IUCN report. Further, the World Wildlife Fund classified Cross River gorillas as endangered on the website. In collaboration with local communities and in cooperation with the Cross-River State Government in Afi Mountain and the Nigeria National Park Service in Okwangwo, WCS has deployed a team of 16 eco-guards for law enforcement patrols of the sanctuary to protect gorillas.  

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