281 baby mountain
gorillas have been named since Kwita Izina began.
The female
gorillas were pictured standing casually behind park ranger Mathieu Shamavu and looking straight at the camera, as another ranger, Patrick Sadiki, looked on in the background.
Altrui says Trudy was the oldest
gorilla in the records of zoos accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, an international accrediting organization.
As depicted in the Academy Award nominated documentary 'Virunga', the
gorillas are under constant threat both from poachers and war.
Yet these pictures illustrate the dangers faced by the
gorillas, many descended from the ones Attenborough met.
1 VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, RWANDA MOUNTAIN
gorillas can be found throughout the Virunga Massif, a chain of volcanoes spread between Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC.
A
gorilla Rwanda | How to do it: As part of their Jane Goodall Collection of holidays endorsed by the world renowned primatologist, G Adventures (gadventures.co.uk) offer a nine-day Uganda and
Gorilla Overland escorted group tour from PS1,555pp, including a
gorilla trek in Bwindi.
"Koko's capacity for language and empathy has opened the minds and hearts of millions,"
Gorilla Foundation said in the statement, adding that "her impact has been profound and what she has taught us about the emotional capacity of
gorillas and their cognitive abilities will continue to shape the world."
After booking a few hotels I found online, securing a
gorilla permit ($1,500 in Rwanda and $600 in Uganda), applying for an East African visa online, and downing some malaria pills, I hopped on a plane to Rwanda on Ethiopian Airlines to party with primates - chimpanzees, golden monkeys, and
gorillas - in the wild.
Dian's determination to protect the
gorillas she loved led to her downfall.
In this month's Geographical, photojournalist Stuart Butler travels deep into the heart of West Africa's
gorilla homelands (see The Ebola Storm on page 32) to talk not only to the rangers and biologists whose unenviable task it is to monitor just how virulent the highly infectious disease is when it comes to ape populations, but also to those trying to fight back against its spread through cutting edge medical research.
The Philadelphia Zoo family recently got bigger with the addition of a newborn baby
gorilla from one of their resident western lowland
gorillas named Kira.