Gorillas in Peril

In a single week in June of 2004, farmers cleared nearly six square miles (15 square kilometers) for cattle pastures in the Virunga Conservation Area - possibly threatening the area's 380 mountain gorillas, like the juvenile pictured above. 

The rapid deforestation last summer was documented by NASA satellite images of the conservation area, which includes the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda and the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

"Remote sensing is the only tool that we have to efficiently monitor these remote parks," said Nadine Laporte, head of the Africa Program at Woods Hole Research Center. "The rate of change is so rapid that we need satellite imagery in a timely fashion to address the problems in the area."

NASA currently provides free Landsat images, which researchers and rangers can use to map changes in forest habitat, as well as identify encroachment into the park.

Meanwhile, a separate study announced Wedensday counted 168 gorillas living in the mountain highlands of Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Congo. Encouragingly, a number of the groups had infants. A census under difficult conditions in 2000 estimated 120 to 130 animals in the same area. Researchers at the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which conducted the study, said a band of park guards who have defended the gorillas from poachers have played a key role in safeguarding them.

Only 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world.  Besides the Virunga Conservation Area, there are 320 gorillas residing in the nearby Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. 

-- LiveScience Staff

Credit: E. De Merode