With fewer 250 individuals remaining, Cross River gorillas are the world’s rarest gorilla and a notoriously elusive species rarely observed directly by field researchers.
The subspecies is listed as Critically Endangered and is threatened by both habitat destruction and hunting, as the entire population lives in the remote forested mountainous terrain on the border region of Nigeria and Cameroon.
Collected from one of four video camera traps set up by researchers in the protected area, the footage reveals eight Cross River gorillas casually making their way along a forest path.
“This video gives us all a spectacular view into the hidden world of one of our closest relatives, which is in dire need of our help to survive,” said Steve Sanderson, WCS President and CEO.
Christopher Jameson, director of WCS’s Takamanda Mone Landscape Project, said: “The video represents the best images to date of Cross River gorillas, normally shy animals that flee at the slightest hint of human presence. The footage provides us with our first tantalizing glimpses of Cross River gorillas behaving normally in their environment. A person can study these animals for years and never even catch a glimpse of the gorillas, much less see anything like this.”
[telegraph.co.uk]
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