Mountain gorilla photo: WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

1861 - British explorers Speke and Grant find the Virunga massif, which stretches along the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to the Mgahinga National Park in southwestern Uganda and the Volcano National Park in northern Rwanda.

October 1902 - German explorer Oscar von Beringei becomes the first non-African to discover the mountain gorilla when he shoots dead two animals.

1903 - Paul Matschie, a pioneer in mammalian taxonomy, names them Gorilla gorilla beringei.

1925 - Carl Akeley, an American naturalist, convinces His Majesty King Albert of Belgium to create the Albert National Park, the first national park of Africa. The park is created for the protection and study of the gorillas.

1959-60 - American zoologist George Schaller undertakes a basic study of the mountain gorillas of Albert National Park (later renamed the Virunga National Park), one of two habitats for mountain gorillas.

1967 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist, begins the first long-term study of wild gorillas.

1972 - WWF undertakes survey of mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

1979 - The Mountain Gorilla Project - a conservation partnership between the Rwandan government and a consortium formed by WWF, African Wildlife Foundation and Fauna & Flora International - is approved. Priority programs include protection of the fauna and flora of the park, creation of "gorilla tourism," and public education for local communities.

1981 - WWF makes first donation of anti-poaching equipment to Uganda's Bwindi National Park, the other habitat for mountain gorillas.

1981 - Mountain gorilla population in the Virungas estimated at 239.

December 1985 - On December 27, Dian Fossey is killed in her cabin in Rwanda.

1989 - The Mountain Gorilla Project and other partners coordinate a census of Virunga gorillas, estimating a population of 324 there.

1991 - The International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) is established as a natural evolution of the Mountain Gorilla Project by the same conservation organizations - AWF, FFI and WWF. The IGCP remains the only conservation program based on all three sides of the Virungas.

1992 - IGCP launches an ecotourism development project in Bwindi, Uganda, to develop gorilla tourism and other related activities, as well as a system of sharing tourism revenue with local communities and assistance to community tourism groups.

1994 - Eight mountain gorillas are killed during seven months of civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.

July 1994 - A million refugees flee the Rwandan civil war into neighboring DRC. Vast refugee camps are situated very close to the Virunga National Park. The park infrastructure is destroyed and equipment looted.

1994-96 - IGCP provides emergency support to Rwanda and DRC, including covering the costs of patrols, purchasing field equipment, providing assistance to the army to defuse landmines in the Virungas, and taking responsibility for the payment of salaries for the park staff. Patrols are organized to protect all the gorilla groups that have been habituated to humans for ecotourism.

1996 - Park staff in Rwanda who persevered with their duties through the incursion are awarded the Getty Conservation Prize for their courage and dedication.

1996 - IUCN estimates 620 mountain gorillas remain in the wild: 300 in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda and 320 in the Virungas.

1999 - Rwanda re-opens the Volcano National Park (Parc National des Volcans).

1999 - Militia attack Bwindi's Buhoma park headquarters, resulting in the tragic deaths of one warden and eight foreign tourists. Park infrastructure is also destroyed.

2001 - In October, a declaration is signed by the three protected area authorities of Rwanda, DRC and Uganda, committing them to work in partnership towards the creation of a transboundary protected area incorporating the entire mountain gorilla habitat.

Feb. 2002 - Census of Bwindi gorillas begins; results pending genetic analysis of hair samples.

May 2002 - Two female mountain gorillas are killed in Rwanda and a baby taken for the live animal trade, in the first poaching incident of this type in 16 years.

September 2002 - Annette Lanjouw, IGCP director since 1995, is awarded a new prize, the first National Geographic Society/Buffett Award for Leadership in African Conservation.

October 2002 - A baby gorilla, believed to be a different one from the one seized in May, is found in a cave near Ruhengeri in Rwanda's Volcano National Park awaiting a buyer. Three poachers are arrested as patrols mount to determine from where the baby was taken.

October 2002 - The total population stands at an estimated 674 animals. The Virungas' population is estimated to have increased by 14 percent in the last 12 years (now 355 animals). Recent surveys indicate the Bwindi population may be increasing slightly.

January 2004 - An IGCP-led census of mountain gorillas in the Virunga montane forests shows a 17 percent increase in the population and a total of 380 gorillas. This count, together with the findings of a 2002 census in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park puts the total number of mountain gorillas in the world at no less than 700.

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