Western Lowland Gorilla

This subspecies of the western gorilla is becoming threatened as timber companies move into the region. As forests are opened up by the timber companies, hunters move in. The commercial trade in bushmeat is now an added threat to these gorillas and other forest fauna. Ebola hemorrhagic fever has also emerged as a new threat.

Habitat loss and degradation

Logging concession, south-east Cameroon.
© Olivier VAN BOGAERT / WWF-Canon

In Central Africa, timber has become a major export and vast areas of rainforest in the western lowland gorilla's habitat in the Congo Basin have been already lost or leased out to European and Asian logging companies. The loss of their habitat makes it harder for the gorillas to sustain their lives.

Hunting and trade

There is also a strong link between habitat loss and the bushmeat trade. As previously inaccessible forests are opened up by timber companies, commercial hunters gain access to areas where gorillas roam and often use logging vehicles to transport bushmeat to far away markets. Meat is also sold to the employees of the logging companies.

The opening of once remote forest areas, together with the easy transport provided by logging vehicles to distant markets, has caused bushmeat trade to shift to a commercial activity with dramatic consequences for all wildlife. In North East Congo it has been estimated that approximately 5% of gorillas are killed by hunters each year. Despite national and international laws prohibiting the hunting and capture of gorillas throughout their range, bushmeat trade continues to threaten the western lowland gorilla. The subspecies is also sought after as food, pets and their body parts are used in medicine and as magical charms.

Making Progress: Cameroon Officials Stage Successful Bushmeat and Poaching Raid

Forest lake Minkébé Forest, Gabon
© Michel GUNTHER / WWF-Canon

Disease

Central Africa, the home of western lowland gorillas, has been dramatically affected by Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often-fatal disease that affects humans and non-human primates, such as monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees. This disease is one of the most virulent viral killers known to humankind, causing death in 50%-90% of all clinically ill patients. No effective medical treatment or vaccine exists for ebola virus infection.

Some scientists estimate that Ebola has killed about one third of the wild gorilla population (mainly the western lowland subspecies) and predict that this trend may even rise in the next 7-10 years. Evidence suggests that the virus may still be moving through the Congo Basin, placing a large portion of the gorilla population at risk.

It is suspected that the disease is spread through the butchering and handling of primate bushmeat. In the Congo River Basin, most of the recent outbreaks of ebola in humans have been closely associated with large die-offs of great apes that are also susceptible to the disease. In the Minkébé Forest in northern Gabon, it is suspected that the virus has killed more than 90% of the western lowland gorilla and central chimpanzee.