MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - News Roundup

A few interesting items of Gorilla related news that we've not covered recently.

From LiveScience.com - Why Do Gorillas Eat Rotting Wood?

Gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda will suck on wood chips for several minutes before spitting them. Sometimes they chew on them until their gums bleed. They have also been seen licking the bases of tree stumps and the insides of decayed logs, and breaking off pieces of wood to munch on later. Gorillas will return daily to the same stump and take turns feeding.

Also from LiveScience.com - Do Gorillas Go Through Menopause Too?

"Do they have hot flashes? Do they get grouchy? We haven't been able to measure those things yet, but give us time,'' said study co-author Sue Margolis, a former Brookfield Zoo researcher and now curator of primates at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

From SFGate.com - Village has a gorilla economy

Jenina Tukahirwa's arts and crafts shop is about 20 yards from the entrance to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.
[...]
It is here where increasing numbers of tourists are tracking what park wardens say is a growing population of its endangered mountain gorilla.

"Our people are benefiting," Tukahirwa said while sitting in her shop, surrounded by carved figures of gorillas, woven baskets and other locally made crafts.

SAVE THE RHINO - Rhino Shopping

Visit the Save The Rhino Shop for all your Rhino needs... Whether it be shirts, books, CDs, poster or plush toys, you can be sure that part of your purchase price will go towards saving rhinos around the world.

Also, the Victor Stationery company has announced a major new initiative in support of Save the Rhino International.

Their flagship brand, RHINO, will lead the way in a major awareness and fundraising campaign across the UK.

Victor Stationery is a long-established manufacturer and leading supplier of quality paper stationery and exercise books to the education, commercial and retail stationery markets. There’s something for everyone from student refill pads and office essentials, to the "play and learn" range Rhino Kids.

To celebrate the partnership, Victor Stationery has developed two new and exciting "Save the Rhino" ranges. A contemporary recycled range with a natural feel will be next season’s must-have stationery item, while the strikingly cheeky "Horn Star" range will appeal to those of you with a wicked sense of humour!

KAKAPO PARROTS - Kakapo Encounter with the Ulva Island Trust

I received news of a very interesting Kakapo Encounter event being organized by the Kakapo Recovery Programme on Stewart Island and the Ulva Island Trust.

Sirocco the Kakapo will be on view for visitors to Ulva Island from 13 August to 23 October 2006, cost NZ$80 adult, NZ$40 child.

The Ulva Island Trust is thrilled to be able to offer a unique opportunity to view one of the world's rarest birds. Between late August and the end of September this year (06) we will be hosting 'Sirocco', (a hand-reared male not involved in the breeding programme), on the rat-free sanctuary of Ulva Island, situated in Patersons Inlet, Rakiura/Stewart Island. We will be taking bookings for this event on a 'first come, first served' basis.

If anyone makes it to this, we'd be very interested in pictures of course, but the website does stress NO FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY!

**UPDATE**
The Kakapo Encounter webpage has been updated with more details of this exciting event.

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - 2050, the Last Gorilla?

The Independent Online has an article today reporting on a new warning from Matthew Woods of the UN-run Great Apes Survival Project.

The gorilla is threatened with extinction by the mid-21st century if poaching and destruction of its habitat continue at the current rate, the United Nations has warned.

Within a decade, three of the four sub-species of the great ape could be wiped out, it says. "Many populations are faced with imminent extinction," said Woods.

[The Mountain Gorilla is] susceptible to a number of threats, from uncontrolled hunting and war to disease, destruction of forest habitat and capture for the illegal pet trade. Considered critically endangered.

How many left: A little over 700.

Read on for full story.

And here's the link to GRASP, The Great Apes Survival Project.

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - Patrols destroy 1000 poaching snares

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International's Field News has an article this month on the anti-poaching patrols which found and destroyed over 1000 animal snares last year. Not necessarily intented for Gorillas, these vile traps are really aimed at catching other animals such as antelope to be consumed as "bush meat". The potential consequences of a gorilla being caught in one of these is all too obvious.

2-year-old Tayna was also found in a snare, but this time still hanging in it by her left hand. Her entire group was gathered around and silverback Titus was making attempts to free her. Unfortunately, due to the way the snares work, his efforts only succeed in making the noose tighter!

Full story at the DFGFI site.

CONSERVATION - America Going Green?

Interesting article over at Newsweek that touches on many areas of personal conservation that could have a major impact on the world if only everyone would/could do it. Wind & solar-powered homes and more fuel-efficient cars are all slowly becoming more viable options for everyone. Recycling efforts are also getting better.

In the face of the coming onslaught of pollutants from a rapidly urbanizing China and India, the task of avoiding ecological disaster may seem hopeless, and some environmental scientists have, quietly, concluded that it is.

Urban planners are also thinking actively about obesity fighting "pedestrian-friendly" communities, something sadly lacking in the US where the automobile is king. And it's not just in America. Last I heard (correct me if I'm wrong), new home construction in Spain requires the mandatory inclusion of solar-panels on the roof.

Steven F. Hayward, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "There's no problem environmentalists can't turn into an apocalyptic crisis," says Hayward.
[...]
Yet of all things, this hardheaded acolyte of the free market worries most about species extinction, among the most rarefied of ecological concerns. But, you see, Hayward has a young daughter. And she wants to be a zookeeper when she grows up.

Full article at Newsweek - Going Green In America.

As a side-note, let me complain bitterly about over-zealous city rules that prevent people doing what they want with their own home. A colleague of mine wanted desperately to join the growing number of people who are raising "pet" chickens to get their own fresh eggs. Yet a city ordinance denies her the opportunity.

She has ample backyard to accommodate the stylish, award-winning Omlet.com Eglu she wanted to get, but the city says no. What a shame. A couple of chickens pecking away harmlessly in a short chicken run seems far less offensive and dangerous to me than a great big Rottweiler dog, but I'm sure she could have one of those. It's not fair is it?

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - An Interview with Sigourney Weaver

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International website has an interview with Sigourney Weaver in which she talks about her return trip to Rwanda to film "Gorillas Revisited". The documentary aired on Animal Planet recently, some 18 years since Sigourney portrayed Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist".