International Gorilla Conservation Programme
ONCE AND FUTURE PRIMATE ORDERCloser look shows several species had not been identifiedConservation International, 5 April 2000 In an unprecedented gathering of primate specialists, new taxonomic classifications were confirmed that reveal many more species of primates exist than previously estimated. The gorillas, previously considered a single species, were divided into two species and five subspecies. The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) includes the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) of the Virunga Volcanoes area of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the yet unnamed, but distinct, population of Uganda's Bwindi (Impenetrable) Forest, and the eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri). Western Africa is home to at least two additional taxa, the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli). The mountain, Bwindi and Cross River gorilla populations all number only in the hundreds and are considered critically endangered. PRIMATES ON THE BRINKNew List Spotlights World's Top 25 Most EndangeredConservation International, 10 January 2000 After surviving a century with no extinctions, 25 species of apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates now risk disappearing forever, according to a report released today by Conservation International and the Primate Specialist Group of IUCN the World Conservation Union's Species Survival Commission. "The Cross River gorilla is a good example of why we must be very careful not to neglect possible diversity. In the nick of time we have realized these gorillas are distinct, just before it is finally too late to save them from oblivion," said Dr. John F. Oates, primatologist with Hunter College - CUNY, and co-author with Esteban Sarmiento of the American Museum of Natural History, of the re-description of the Cross River gorilla." International Species Information System (ISIS)ISIS is an international non-profit membership organization (U.S. 501c3) which serves nearly 500 zoological institutional members, from 54 countries, worldwide. This is an unprecedented level of global cooperation by mostly city-based facilities, presently including about half of the world's "recognized" zoos and aquariums. ISIS supports conservation and preservation of species, by helping member facilities manage their living collections. ISIS provides PC software for sound specimen records keeping and scientific conservation-oriented collection management, and then pools this information across the whole network.
ISIS Abstracts: Gorillas
Eastern Lowland Gorilla - Gorilla gorilla graueri
Conservation News: World's First Test Tube Gorilla Born
|
Gorillas Online
Copyright © 1996-2005 Tim Knight
Revised: February 2005