One of our primate cousins seems to be at risk. Scientists found that a subspecies of eastern gorilla residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo is facing "an extremely high risk of extinction."
The Grauer's gorilla, which is the biggest dude of the species in the world, has made it to the list of "critically endangered" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "red list".
Meanwhile, the panda seems to be showing some hopeful signs and has been removed from the 'endangered' list to the 'vulnerable' one. The International Union for Conservation of Nature reported that even as climate change might decimate more than a third of the panda's native bamboo habitat in the following 80 years, the current efforts at forest protection and reforestation has helped to improve its current status.
"The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's efforts to conserve these species are effective," the IUCN reports.
Andrew Plumptre of the Wildlife Conservation Society, the lead author of the revised listing, said that acknowledging its threatened status may help us to turn the population around.
"Critical Endangered status will raise the profile of this gorilla subspecies and bring attention to its plight," Plumptre said in a statement about the listing. "It has tended to be the neglected ape in Africa, despite being the largest ape in the World."
Just 20 years ago, the total population was 16,900 in the mid-1990s. But today, the Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri, earlier called the eastern lowland gorilla) population is just 3,800, says a report that was out last spring. This showed a 77 percent reduction in one generation. It was more than the reduction needed to be thought of as "critically endangered."
Reasons for the decline in populations include poaching, habitat loss, and civil unrest, disease and climate change, says the IUCN. Laborers at mines seem to be responsible for illegal hunting.
The announcement was made on Sunday at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii. The listing has put the gorilla species (eastern and western) as well as the other four subspecies as critically endangered, and near extinction.
