Conservation Success Leads to New Challenges for Endangered Mountain Gorillas

A scientific study published in Scientific Reports suggests that new health challenges may be emerging as a result of conservationists’ success in pulling mountain gorillas back from the brink of extinction.

The study, the first-ever species-wide survey of parasite infections across the entire range of the mountain gorilla, was conducted by an international science team led by the Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences; University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Czech Republic; Gorilla Doctors; and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund; in collaboration with the protected area authorities of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (the Rwanda Development Board, the Uganda Wildlife Authority and l’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, respectively).

All mountain gorillas live in fully protected national parks in Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, where the potential for spatial expansion is extremely limited due to dense human communities living nearby. Consequently, as gorilla population densities within the protected areas increase, their susceptibility to infectious diseases may also.

Publication: Klara J. Petrželková, et al., Heterogeneity in patterns of helminth infections across populations of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-021-02858-z

Original Story Source: Czech Academy of Sciences