Very few people have ever seen a Cross River gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla diehli ), the rarest and most endangered of the world's four gorillasubspecies. Only about 250 to 300 of these animals exist in theworld, and they have almost never been photographed in the wild. Well, you're in for a treat. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) this week released the first camera trap video footage ofCross River gorillas. The footage, shot in Cameroon's KagweneGorilla Sanctuary, shows eight different gorillas representingabout 3 percent of the entire species casually walking through theforest. About halfway through the two-minute video, a malesilverback charges toward the camera, beating his massive chest: "Spectacular footage such as this, which we've neverhad before for Cross River gorillas, is absolutely vital to inspirelocal people, the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon, and theglobal community to care about and to save this uniquesubspecies," James Deutsch, executive director forWCS's Africa Program, said in a prepared release."Continued research of this kind will help fine-tunemanagement plans to protect this rarest of apes." The video does contain a disturbing element if you look closelyenough: one of the gorillas is missing a hand. The WCS theorizesthat this could be an injury, now healed, caused by a snare left byhunters. Wildlife poaching used to be more prevalent in the region,but the sanctuary has been protected by antipoaching patrols sinceit was established in 2008 . It is less than 20 square kilometers in size and is estimated tohold approximately 20 to 30 gorillas. "Cross River gorillas occur in very low densities acrosstheir entire range, so the appearance of a possible snare injury isa reminder that continued law enforcement efforts are needed toprevent further injuries to gorillas in the sanctuary," saidLiz Macfie, gorilla coordinator for WCS's Species Program. Cross River gorillas only live in remote, mountainous regions alongthe Nigeria Cameroon border, where they exist in extremelyfragmented subpopulations spread out over 12,000 kilometers. Themajor threats to their survival are habitat loss and poaching. Mostof the gorillas live outside of protected sites. Previously in Extinction Countdown: Critically Endangered Cross River Gorillas May Have More Room toGrow Video and still courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society. I am an expert from plastic-recyclingmachines.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Pet Bottle Recycling Machine Manufacturer , Waste Plastic Recycling Machine, Plastic Recycling Machines,and more.
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