125,000 Western lowland gorillas found in the Congo

[Dukkha]

Source: CNN

An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

Researchers have revealed the discovery of 125,000 Western lowland gorillas in northern Congo. "It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday.

The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

WCS survey teams conducted the research in 2006 and 2007, traveling to the remote Lac Tele Community Reserve in northern Republic of Congo, a vast area of swamp forest.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/05/congo.gorillas/index.html

[DS1]

1. Great

I hope they're only announcing it with snipers in place to kill the inevitable poachers.

[Dukkha]

6. my thought exactly

stupid no-sighted media! why don't they just hand the poachers a map & a rifle! They could have reported it without any details of their location.

[wvbygod]

7. Why would a poacher want to kill these near-human animals?

Is it one of those tribal or aphrodisiac body parts prize things? Killing a gorilla
for any reason other than self defense is approaching murder in my mind.

[DS1]

8. They cut their hands off for some stupid reason

good luck, I think.

[ladjf]

14. Cut the hands off to make ash trays out of them.

[Posteritatis]

12. Prestige value of the meat (nt)

[Xithras]

13. They eat them

It's called bushmeat, and it's very popular among the rural people in that part of the world. Bushmeat hunters and ebola are the two biggest killers of lowland gorillas.

[HEyHEY]

2. What? Is this from the onion?

How the hell do you miss 125,000 fucking Gorillas?

Edit: YEs bring on the Gorilla orgy jokes...

[Hugin]

4. Well, they don't plow down the forests to build crap like us Hominids.

Their biggest problem is where to get today's salad.

[Baclava]

23. "How the hell do you miss 125,000 fucking Gorillas?" indeed...

I can see a couple of prankster gorillas following around the "nest-counters" and making up new ones as they go.

"Watch this Earl, balls of grass makes them naked apes get all excited....heh heh"

[The Stranger]

3. Please fucking hide them, protect them, build fences and walls and preserves for them.

We are not to be trusted with this planet any more.

[babylonsister]

5. You got it. And foremost, stop talking about them! Let them live in

peace. Hide that location!

[Bonobo]

9. OMG!!! The best news I have heard in so long!!!

Astonishing.

[The2ndWheel]

10. Terrific

It's sort of sad that they found them. It's nice to think that there might be some place left where life can live outside of the reach of our machine.

Oh well.

[trthnd4jstc]

11. Thank Goodness! n.t.

[semillama]

15. Keep in mind this is an estimate only

Because the area is so remote and swampy, the scientists arrived at their estimate by counting nests. Of course, while somewhat imprecise, it will give you some idea of a population size. I guess a lot depends on how often gorillas build new nests and how long abandoned nests persist.

[Judi Lynn]

16. Hope they didn't make this announcement until AFTER they had some kind of reliable plan in place

which seems sound enough to be capable of protecting them. Anything less would be hideous. Hoping the fact the info. was disclosed by the Wildlife Conservation Society means they can be trusted as being thoughtful, and protective first, and foremost.

[MasonJar]

17. Hallelujah!!!!! Immediately protect them!!!!!!!!!

[UTUSN]

18. K&R #4 for FANtastic!1 But is this 125thou NEW or 25thou over the previous 100thou?!1 n/t

[Lifetimedem]

19. There are people

running around all over the place "trying to save" animals that do quite nicely without their help

[ohio2007]

20. Kind of hard to believe. How can you "find" 125,000, 800 LB gorillas one day

snip
The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

snip

odd.

Thats like discovering a new continent in a remote part of the Atlantic

You would think 'experts' couldn't be so oblivious to #'s that big.

[tex-wyo-dem]

21. This is absolutely great news!!!

Not often you hear good news about the environment, particularly wrt biodiversity.

Hopefully they've taken measures for protection.

A BIG k&r!

[windoe]

22. Hopefully they stay safe now that their hiding place has been announced to the world.

It used to be the best hiding place.