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A census of the Virunga gorillas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Conrad Aveling  and
Alexander H. Harcourt
Conrad Aveling
Affiliation:
Frankfurt Zoological Society, Alfred-Brehm Platz 16, 6000 Frankfurt am Main 1, West Germany.
Alexander H. Harcourt
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Biology, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3DX, UK.
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Mountain gorillas exist in the wild today only in the Virunga volcanoes, which span the borders of Zaire, Rwanda and Uganda, and in the Bwindi Forest Reserve of Uganda, and number probably fewer than 400. The authors describe the 1981 survey of the entire Virunga gorilla population, the first to be done since 1973. The results clearly show how the gorillas in the Rwanda. section of the volcanoes have benefited from the protection afforded by the activities of the Karisoke Research Centre and the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda. There is also optimism that the Zaire population, which has retained the potential for increase, could recover if given better protection from poaching and disturbance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 1984 , pp. 8 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1984

References

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