Between the pandemic and the presidential election coming up, environmental issues have fallen to the wayside. There is still an environmental crisis, the most recent one being Australia’s wildfires, that needs more attention. Between climate change and endangered species going extinct, there hasn’t been much good news until recently.
A very rare species of ape in the forests of Cameroon and Nigeria was just photographed for the first time in years. Not only were they caught on tape, but the photos showed that there were a handful of babies attached to their mothers, great news for this subspecies of western gorilla.
There are only 300 reported Cross River gorillas left in the wild, so the fact that they are reproducing on their own is a huge relief to the animal kingdom. These new photos are reason for celebration!
Cross River gorillas are not only the rarest species of great ape, they are extremely hard to photograph. Remote cameras struggle to even capture them on camera. They are only found in a few patches of forest in Nigeria and Cameroon and they are not only are they hard to find, they are also very wary of humans.
The WCS, or Wildlife Conservation Agency in Nigeria, were the ones who released the photos and have been relying on photographs of the animals to determine their numbers and appearance. They work closely with community organization the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains to not only protect the primates, but set up trap cameras like these to to try and capture photos of the animals.
The Cross River gorilla is hard to catch a glimpse of. The organizations reported that the last photos taken were back in 2012, in one of Cameroon’s gorilla sanctuaries. Luckily, based on these new photos it doesn’t look as though any of the gorillas have been reported killed since then. The only downside is that they haven’t been seen at all since then.
The new photos prove that they still have hope for survival and the conservation efforts are working. There are even multiple babies in the same group. This gives hope to a lot of African wildlife. If the ultra rare Cross River has the ability to make a comeback, theres a possibility that other species of apes can bring their numbers back as well. Not to mention the hope for other animals in the area.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
