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Oil company threatens endangered gorilla forest World Heritage Site Democratic Republic Congo: - Rainforest Rescue
https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/900/dr-congo-oil-company-threatens-gorilla-forest
Gorilla family in Virunga National Park https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/uploads/photos/teaser_small/kongo-virunga-np-gorilla-baby.jpg
The dense montane rainforest in the Virunga National Park is one of the last remaining habitats of the endangered mountain gorillas. Virunga is located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is the oldest national park in Africa. The park, about twice the size of Rhode Island, and along the shores of Lake Edward, was designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. In addition to the gorillas, it is home to other endangered species. Now the national park, the gorillas and the people living along the lake face an existential threat.
In late 2011, the UK-based oil company SOCO was granted exploitation rights for oil blocks in the eastern part of the Congo. Up until then, an exploitation moratorium had been in place for the country’s sensitive rainforest regions. Sixty percent of Block 5 covered by SOCO fall within the borders of Virunga. As Ephrem Balole of the park administration said: “The company has received a permission to start exploration in the park by presidential decree. However, law prohibits the exploitation of natural resources within the park.”
The park administration and the local population have joined forces in an attempt to prevent the drilling, which would destroy large parts of the Virunga rainforest and also threaten Lake Edward. The lake provides the livelihood of many people in the region. The UNESCO has issued a sharply worded note of protest to the Congolese government, declaring the oil drilling to be in violation of international law. The EU is providing funding for Virunga, but to date, only a small group of members of the European Parliament has issued a resolution against the drilling activities planned in the park.
Please write to the responsible institutions and demand the preservation of Virunga National Park *PLEASE READ, X-POST & SIGN*https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/mailalert/900/dr-congo-oil-company-threatens-gorilla-... more-
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First Gorilla Genome Map Offers Clues to Human Evolution
CNN...
First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution
By Matthew Knight, CNN
updated 12:17 PM EST, Thu March 8, 2012 | Filed under: Innovations
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists have completed the DNA map of an African western lowland gorilla
Research hopes to shed light on human evolution and biology
Western lowland gorilla population estimated to be 100-200,000 individuals in the wild
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(CNN) -- The first complete gorilla genome has been mapped by scientists giving fresh insights into our own origins.
Gorilla are the last of the genus of living great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans) to have their DNA decoded, offering new perspectives on their evolution and biology.
"The gorilla genome is important because it sheds light on the time when our ancestors diverged from our closest evolutionary cousins around six to 10 million years ago," says Aylwyn Scally, postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge and lead author of the report.
"It also lets us explore the similarities and differences between our genes and those of gorilla, the largest living primate," he added.
A team of researchers examined more than 11,000 genes in humans, chimpanzees and gorillas, looking for evolutionary clues.
Initial findings have revealed that 15% of the gorilla genome is closer to human DNA than to our nearest evolutionary relative, the chimpanzee.
Researchers found that genes relating to sensory perception, hearing and brain development showed "accelerated evolution" in all three, but particularly in humans and gorillas.
Having the entire length of the gorilla genome now means scientists can start to compare all the four great apes at every position on the genome, Scally says.
It forms the baseline, he says, from which to move forwards and really explore why and when our genes and those of the great apes diverged.
"Did it happen quite quickly or was it something that gradually happened? At the moment we don't know," he said.
"It could have been some climatic change that separated humans in the east of Africa from chimpanzees in the forest -- that's an idea some have floated. If we can see some imprint of it in the genome that would very, very useful information."
Scientists used the DNA of a female western lowland gorilla (called Kamilah) who resides at San Diego Zoo.
In the wild, it is the most widespread species of gorilla, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), with a estimated population of 100-200,000 individuals.
The majority are found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, west Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Angola.
It's cousin, the eastern lowland gorilla is less prevalent (fewer than 20,000 individuals) and can only be found in the rainforests of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, says WWF.
The research is published in the science journal Nature.
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PHOTO (ABOVE):
The complete DNA of a female western lowland gorilla called Kamilah (left) has been mapped by scientists, completing the set of genomes for all great apes (humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans).
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.CNN... First gorilla genome map offers clues to human evolution By Matthew... more-
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Humans and Gorillas Closer Than Thought, Genome Sequence Says
Gorillas have been portrayed as militaristic bullies in the Planet of the Apes movies and as “highly social gentle giants” by researcher Dian Fossey.
Now scientists say they’re closer genetically to humans than they once thought.
Sequencing the genome of a female western lowland gorilla named Kamilah determined that most gorilla DNA is similar or identical to those of humans, despite the 10 million-year gap since the two species split off, according to a report today in the journal Nature.
In 30 percent of the genome, the study determined that gorillas are closer to humans and chimpanzees than the latter two are to each other. It’s a finding that may help scientists track changes in how the species have responded over time to shared genetic characteristics, including diseases, the researchers said.
“If we can understand why they’re harmful in humans but not in gorillas, that would have useful medical implications,” said Chris Tyler-Smith, head of the human evolution team at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England.
Gorillas are the last of the great ape genus to have their genome sequenced, the investigators said. The group saw changes in genes involved in sperm production and in the formation of keratin proteins in the skin.
Additionally, gene variants that in humans cause genetic disease don’t seem to affect gorillas similarly, said Tyler- Smith, one of the study’s authors.
Dementia Gene
One of the genes, PGRN, has a mutation that causes frontotemporal dementia in humans. Another, called TCAP, a human variant that causes hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart muscle thickens, makes it hard for blood to leave the heart.
Both humans and gorillas have accelerated evolution in genes associated with hearing, suggesting that the changes aren’t related to speech, Tyler-Smith said.
Because gorillas live in groups with one male and many females, there isn’t a lot of sperm competition, so many genes involved in sperm formation are either inactive or decreased in numbers in gorillas. And a gene called EVTL, which contributes to keratin formation in the skin, is evolving very rapidly in gorillas, who walk using knuckles that are padded with keratin.
Humans overall are still closer to chimpanzees in 70 percent of the genome, said study author Aylwyn Scally, a postdoctoral fellow at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Ape Separation
“When we look at human evolution, there’s an emphasis on chimpanzees because they’re closer, and other great apes get overlooked,” said Tara Stoinski, chief scientist of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, based in Atlanta.
“This lets us understand the relationships further back in our ancestry,” Stoinski, who wasn’t involved in the research, said in a telephone interview.
Human beings separated from chimpanzees 6 million years ago, and from gorillas about 10 million years ago, according to the report in Nature.
About half a million years ago, gorillas split into two species, the eastern gorilla, featured in Dian Fossey’s book, “Gorillas in the Mist,” and the western gorilla, whose genome sequence was published today.
Fossey was inspired by Jane Goodall’s work with chimpanzees and established a research center called Karisoke, in Rwanda. She knuckle-walked with the gorillas, habituating them to her presence so she could study them. Later, she tried to protect them from poachers after Digit, a gorilla she was especially close to, was killed in 1977. In 1983, she published “Gorillas in the Mist,” a description of her time with the gorillas that underscored conservation. Fossey was murdered in 1985, and buried next to Digit.
Koko the Gorilla
Koko the gorilla, who “speaks” using sign language, is a western lowland gorilla; her relationship with a pet cat was featured in the book “Koko’s Kitten.” Francine Patterson, a scientist who taught a modified form of sign language to the gorilla named Koko, portrayed the relationship between the gorilla and a housecat in the book.
Since the latest species split, eastern and western gorillas appear to have continued exchanging genetic information through sexual liaisons, researcher has suggested.
In the future, the scientists plan to look at the eastern gorillas, which have been studied more extensively in the field than western gorillas, Tyler-Smith said. Both species live in Africa, separated by the Congo River. The western gorillas are critically endangered, threatened by Ebola and being eaten by humans as meat; eastern gorillas are endangered, Stoinski said.
The human genome sequence was declared complete in 2003, the chimpanzee in 2005, and the orangutan in 2011.Gorillas have been portrayed as militaristic bullies in the Planet of the Apes movies... more-
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The Hormone Surge of Middle Childhood
The New York Times...
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December 26, 2011
The Hormone Surge of Middle Childhood
By NATALIE ANGIER
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PART ONE...
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VIEWED superficially, the part of youth that the psychologist Jean Piaget called middle childhood looks tame and uneventful, a quiet patch of road on the otherwise hairpin highway to adulthood.
Said to begin around 5 or 6, when toddlerhood has ended and even the most protractedly breast-fed children have been weaned, and to end when the teen years commence, middle childhood certainly lacks the physical flamboyance of the epochs fore and aft: no gotcha cuteness of babydom, no secondary sexual billboards of pubescence.
Yet as new findings from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, paleontology and anthropology make clear, middle childhood is anything but a bland placeholder. To the contrary, it is a time of great cognitive creativity and ambition, when the brain has pretty much reached its adult size and can focus on threading together its private intranet service — on forging, organizing, amplifying and annotating the tens of billions of synaptic connections that allow brain cells and brain domains to communicate.
Subsidizing the deft frenzy of brain maturation is a distinctive endocrinological event called adrenarche (a-DREN-ar-kee), when the adrenal glands that sit like tricornered hats atop the kidneys begin pumping out powerful hormones known to affect the brain, most notably the androgen dihydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA. Researchers have only begun to understand adrenarche in any detail, but they see it as a signature feature of middle childhood every bit as important as the more familiar gonadal reveille that follows a few years later.
Middle childhood is when the parts of the brain most closely associated with being human finally come online: our ability to control our impulses, to reason, to focus, to plan for the future.
Young children may know something about death and see monsters lurking under every bed, but only in middle childhood is the brain capable of practicing so-called terror management, of accepting one’s inevitable mortality or at least pushing thoughts of it aside.
Other researchers studying the fossil record suggest that a prolonged middle childhood is a fairly recent development in human evolution, a luxury of unfolding that our cousins the Neanderthals did not seem to share. Still others have analyzed attitudes toward middle childhood historically and cross-culturally. The researchers have found that virtually every group examined recognizes middle childhood as a developmental watershed, when children emerge from the shadows of dependency and start taking their place in the wider world.
Much of the new work on middle childhood was described in a recent special issue of the journal Human Nature. As a research topic, “middle childhood has been very much overlooked until recently,” said David Lancy, an anthropologist at Utah State University and a contributor to the special issue. “Which makes it all the more exciting to participate in the field today.”
The anatomy of middle childhood can be subtle. Adult teeth start growing in, allowing children to diversify their diet beyond the mashed potatoes and parentally dissected Salisbury steak stage. The growth of the skeleton, by contrast, slows from the vertiginous pace of early childhood, and though there is a mild growth spurt at age 6 or 7, as well as a bit of chubbying up during the so-called adiposity rebound of middle childhood, much of the remaining skeletal growth awaits the superspurt of puberty.
“Adulthood is defined by being skeletally as well as sexually mature,” said Jennifer Thompson of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “A girl may have her first period at 11 or 12, but her pelvis doesn’t finish growing until about the age of 18.”
The 18-year time frame of human juvenility far exceeds that seen in any other great ape, Dr. Thompson said. Chimpanzees, for example, are fully formed by age 12. With her colleague Andrew J. Nelson of the University of Western Ontario, Dr. Thompson analyzed fossil specimens from Neanderthals, Homo erectus and other early hominids, and concluded that their growth pattern was more like that of a chimpanzee than a modern human: By age 12 or 14, they had reached adult size.
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CONTINUED...
.The New York Times... . December 26, 2011 The Hormone Surge of Middle... more-
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Ape Genius
A PBS Nova presentation on the growing cultural intelligence of the greater apes.-
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Malaysia Conservationists Alarmed by New Plans to Dam Rivers on Borneo |
PHOTO: Orangutan populations in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatera island are facing severe threats from habitat loss, illegal logging, fires and poaching. Conservationists predicted that without immediate action, orangutans are likely to be the first great ape to become extinct in the wild, 17 Aug 2010. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/The-Malaysian-Government-See-Red-on-Borneo-Over-Fresh-Dam-Plans-105667523.html
Borneo island is home to some of the world's rarest animals and plants. But conservationists are alarmed by new plans to dam some of the rivers on Borneo, which is divided among Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Luke Hunt reports from Kota Kinabalu, on Malaysian Borneo.
The Malaysian government has approved construction of dams in the Kaiduan Valley and near Kota Belud in the state of Sabah. Another dam on the Tutoh River is planned for the neighboring state of Sarawak.
Conflict brews
The government says the dams and perhaps more will be needed to ensure East Malaysian water and electricity needs.
However, environmentalists, villagers and a growing number of people in the broader electorate disagree. They want the dams stopped.
S.M. Muthu is a spokesman for the Malaysia Nature Society and says energy supplies - such as biomass fuel, gas and solar - are plentiful in Sabah and Sarawak and should be developed.
He says engineers have examined East Malaysia's infrastructure needs and determined dams are not required to produce electricity given the abundance of fast flowing rivers and natural catchments that are capable of producing electricity.
"The problem is we are destroying the water catchment areas. Then we have a lack of water. Then we want to build dams which is actually trying to find a solution to a problem we keep repeating," Muthu says, "Whereas if you go to the root cause of the problem and we maintain our water catchment areas then you don't even need a dam.
Residents and environmentalists opposition against dam
Residents in the Kaiduan valley have built a blockade to stop preliminary work on the dam. They raised a 1.8-meter Christian cross and the dam location and have also voiced opposition to the dam planned for Kota Belud.
Activists in Sarawak state on the island warn a hydropower dam on the Tutoh River also risks changing the boundary of a national park. That could see its World Heritage status revoked under the regulations of the United Nations cultural body UNESCO.
In addition, Bakun Dam - also in Sarawak - has raised eyebrows. The federal government decided to sell the project, which covers an area the size of Singapore, back to the state government despite intense criticism over environmental damage caused by its construction.
Malaysian Borneo's wildlife threatened
Borneo is home to scores of rare species, including the orangutan, the pygmy elephant and the Borneo rhinoceros. Its wildlife, however, is threatened by development, logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations.
The environmental movement in Malaysian Borneo has grown significantly in recent years. It has managed to block construction of a coal-fired power plant along a pristine stretch of coastline. Environmentalists say the plant threatened the globally recognized Coral Triangle off east Borneo.
Cynthia Ong is the executive director for LEAP Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group that has been at the heart of a coalition of organizations challenging the authorities over their environmental practices. "You know about the coal fired power plant issue. That single issue has mobilized the environment movement in a way I haven't seen before. We hung in there with each other and then made breakthrough after breakthrough after breakthrough and each time when we had successes on our campaign it really empowered us," Ong said.
As momentum within the environmental movement in Sabah spreads among the villagers and urban middle class, environmentalists and government officials in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and beyond are closely monitoring developments here.
"Whether it's coal or whether it's logging it doesn't stop at our borders. It's a line on a map, right. As we work locally there's always this alignment with what's happening in Borneo and what's happening in the region, what's happening globally even," Ong says, "It's not grandiose for us to think that Sabah's a leader and has the potential to be a leader in the region of Southeast Asia."
The Malaysian government says the dams are needed - not only to ensure water supplies - but to guarantee electricity to power the economic growth this country must generate if it is to meet its target of becoming an industrialized nation by 2020.
Managing those economic targets within the constraints of a burgeoning environmental movement could prove difficult, if Borneo's rare and endangered species are to be protected.PHOTO: Orangutan populations in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatera island are facing... more-
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Our Gentle Mountain Gorillas Fight for Survival | Must-See Video
Gorillas fight for survival
By VBS.TV staff
July 22, 2010 2:57 p.m. EDT
Editor's note: The staff at CNN.com has recently been intrigued by the journalism of VICE, an independent media company and website based in Brooklyn, New York. VBS.TV is Vice's broadband television network. The reports, which are produced solely by VICE, reflect a transparent approach to journalism, where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process. We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers.
__________
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda (VBS.TV) --
Uganda has crept back into our consciousness lately with synchronized bomb attacks that took the lives of 76 people in the nation's capital Kampala during the World Cup festivities.
When we were last in Kampala, we set out to learn more about the desperate fight for the survival of mountain gorillas.
With a dwindling population of 700, they have been victims of poaching, disease, war, civil unrest, slaughter and displacement.
Under pressure from rebel factions in Uganda and the DRC who massacred gorillas because the conservationists were "getting on their nerves," our guide tracks the remaining apes -- by armpit stench and dung -- to keep tabs on their health.
We traveled to the remote jungle area known as Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in the southwestern part of Uganda, bordering with Rwanda and the DRC, areas plagued with dictatorships, genocide and decades of civil and national wars.
Ten years earlier, eight park visitors had been abducted and then murdered by a group of Rwandan armed rebels in an effort to destabilize the region.
The drive from Kampala was harrowing. Our driver sped and swerved obsessively, overtaking anyone in his path despite on-coming traffic.
We witnessed three traffic accidents, two fatalities and an adventurous couple having sex in the middle of a dark mountain road after midnight.
With four guards armed with machetes and rifles, two advance gorilla trackers, and our guide Levi we ventured into the dense tropical rainforest that is home to roughly half of the 700 remaining mountain gorillas in the world.
Here we encountered the gentle beasts and found out more about their plight.
See more of this fascinating story at VBS.TVGorillas fight for survival By VBS.TV staff July 22, 2010 2:57 p.m. EDT... more-
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Distressed Ravens Show That Consolation Is For The Birds, Too
Common Ravens have been shown to express empathy towards a "friend" or relative when they are distressed after an aggressive conflict -- just like humans and chimpanzees do. But birds are very distant evolutionary relatives of Great Apes, so what does this similarity imply about the evolution of behavior?Common Ravens have been shown to express empathy towards a "friend" or... more-
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Gorillas on the Brink
Few creatures in the wild captivate man as do gorillas. For those lucky enough to have seen them, it would be hard to imagine Africa's Congo without these gentle giants. However we may have no choice. By the mid-2020s, a new UN and Interpol report says gorillas may disappear from the forests of the Congo Basin.
"We had done a report back in 2002 which was already fairly grim in terms of the predictions in terms of the extinction," says Amy Fraenkel, regional director of the U-N Environnmental Program.
"But that is unfortunately very much trumped by the recent findings, which are that between - I'd say less than 10-15 years out from now, we could see extinction in large ranges of the species."
Fraenkel notes the report links the threat to gorillas to militias, and the continued fighting in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"The biggest cause is an increase in illegal logging and harvesting of minerals in the area which in many cases are being used to directly finance militias, as you know it's a very war-torn area."
She adds that "illegal activity" also includes killing gorillas for bushmeat to feed the loggers and militia.
But the gorillas also face perhaps a more dangerous foe than man. A deadly disease that has wiped out entire populations of gorillas.
"If I were to rank them in what is now the most immediate threat, Ebola would be number one," says Allard Blom, with the World Wildlife Fund's Congo Basin Program.
"It's very devastating to both gorillas and humans and gets transmitted between the species. So that is actually at the moment really wiping out a lot of gorillas in their areas where they are most protected. The biggest populations get hit by this virus. Basically, it's almost a 100% mortality rates in gorilla."
The UNEP Interpol report contains several recommendations to counter the threat to gorillas. One key element, says Amy Fraenkel, is to stem the economic benefit of the illegal trade, inside and outside of Africa.
"And that is something we've been working on in many different aspects of environmental crime. In this case, it's training law enforcement officials and park rangers - and deploying and giving them the resources. It's truly a war and they need to be well equipped."
Allard Blom of the WWF agrees with report's recommendation. He adds that it is important to work with logging companies to help stem the illegal bushmeat trade -- and on that front, he says there is some good news.
"There is now over five million hectares of forest that is certified...and I can tell you from personal experience, 10-15 years ago, most logging companies were extremely hostile to conservation organizations. We were seen as the enemy and that has dramatically changed.
The UNEP - Interpol report was presented at a recent meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Gorillas-on-the-Brink-90203897.htmlFew creatures in the wild captivate man as do gorillas. For those lucky enough to have... more-
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Thailand's "Safari World" Theme Park to Allow Shocking Orangutan Kickboxing
A safari theme park in Thailand has been slammed by animal lovers for its macabre way of attracting tourists by featuring orangutan kick boxing matches.
Previously, the zoo was closed six years ago on charges of animal cruelty for using the animals in the dangerous sport. Animal rights activists say that some of the orangutans, weighing up to 250 pounds, could cause serious harm to each other in a boxing match.
Safari World, on the outside of Bangkok, has been drawing huge crowds that cheer orangutans forced to wear boxing gloves and trained to trade punches and spin kicks.
As the heavyweights of the jungle duke it out, female orangutans parade around in bikinis displaying the round number.
According to an investigative report, after the 30-minute shows, the orangutans are returned to their dark, dingy charges.
"It's sad that people would find this entertaining," the New York Daily News quoted Debbie Leahy, director of captive animals for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as saying.
"When you see these animals performing what are completely unnatural tricks...they're not doing it because they want to, they're doing it because they're afraid not to," Leahy said.
The Daily Mail of London obtained video exposing the barbaric matches at Safari World and showing tourists cheering wildly as apes pummel each other.
While organizers insists the orangutans have been trained to pretend as if they've been knocked out, disgusted animal rights activists warned of the abuse the 250-pound animals endure while being trained.
Orangutans previously rescued from other entertainment parks showed signs of abuse upon arriving at an animal refuge in Indonesian Borneo, they said.
"It is heartbreaking that such practices still go on," Grainne McEntee of the wildlife rescue group Borneo Orangutan Survival told the Daily Mail.
The Thai government shut down the Safari World monkey matches in 2004, and seized 48 orangutans that had been illegally smuggled from Indonesia.
It's unclear why the bizarre show is once more allowed to go on. (ANI)
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5593665-shocking-ape-kickboxing-in-thailandA safari theme park in Thailand has been slammed by animal lovers for its macabre way... more-
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How Our Cell Phones Kill Gorillas |
Mother Jones - http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020
In March, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) announced that gorillas in the Congo may be extinct by the mid-2020s, a drastic change from its 2002 projection which had 10 percent of the original range surviving in 2030.
The culprits behind the demise of one of the world's brightest primates: poaching, logging, mining, the Ebola virus, and...cell phones.
Adam Hochschild's piece in the March/April issue of Mother Jones http://motherjones.com/toc/2010/03, describes how the Congo's vast natural resources are continuously pillaged to feed foreign interests to the detriment of locals, their environment, and now gorillas.
'Militias have seized large chunks of gorilla land and logged and mined it. They have done so because the illegal trade in timber and in metals such as gold and coltan -- used in cell phones -- generates between $14 million and $50 million a year for them.' --- CNN reports
'This is a tragedy for the great apes and one also for countless other species being impacted by this intensifying and all too often illegal trade. Ultimately it is also a tragedy for the people living in the communities and countries concerned. These natural assets are their assets: ones underpinning lives and livelihoods for millions of people. In short it is environmental crime and theft by the few and the powerful at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable.' --- Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UNEP
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020Mother Jones - http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/03/gorillas-extinct-mid-2020... more-
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Report: The Last Stand of the Gorilla - Environmental Crime and Confict in the Congo Basin
UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla
Gorillas, the largest of the great apes, are under renewed threat across the Congo Basin from Nigeria to the Albertine Rift: poaching for bushmeat, loss of habitat due to agricultural expansion, degradation of habitat from logging, mining and charcoal production are amongst these threats, in addition to natural epidemics such as ebola and the new risk of diseases passed from humans to gorillas.
Alarmingly, parts of the region are experiencing intensifed exploitation and logging of its forest, in some cases even within protected areas. In the DRC, many of these activities are controlled by militias illegally extracting natural resources such as gold, tin and coltan as well as producing charcoal for local communities, urban areas, camps for people displaced by fghting and sometimes even to communities across the border. These militias are located, motivated, armed and fnanced directly by this illegal extraction of minerals, timber and charcoal.
A network of intermediaries including multinational companies or their subsidiaries, neighboring countries and corrupt offcials, are involved in the transportation and procurement of resources which stem from areas controlled by militia, or for which no legal exploitation permission exists.
Recommendations
1. Strengthen MONUC by expanding its mandate to secure full control of border crossings, by any means necessary, with regard to the export of illegally exploited natural resources, that are fnancing the confict, in full collaboration with and assisting the national customs authority to intervene and halt trans-national environmental crime, in close coordination with appropriate national and international bodies.
2. Enhance support for close coordination and trans-boundary collaboration among parks in DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, including coordination with MONUC, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and relevant law enforcement agencies.
3. Mobilize resources for trans-boundary collaboration and coordination, including all aspects of transnational environmental crime and investigation from source to end-user outside the region – including investigations of complicit companies in recipient countries, especially but not limited to the EU, USA, People’s Republlic of China and the rest of Asia – in order to monitor the origin and halt the purchase of illegally exploited and smuggled minerals and timber from the Congo Basin.
4. Mobilize funding for judicial training and cross-boundary training of judicial staff in national and transnational environmental crime in gorilla range states to assist in bringing successful prosecutions.
5. Strengthen long term training programmes in law enforcement for park rangers and wildlife managers across the region including those working outside of parks, for example in community reserves, with particular reference to anti-poaching, monitoring, scene of crime investigation and intelligence gathering.
6. Promote the essential role that local, national and international law enforcement and anti-corruption plays in ensuring the success of rainforest protection and climate mitigation efforts under REDD+ and source specifc fnance for these measures through UNEP, UNODC, LATF and INTERPOL.
7. Establish a fund for supporting trans-boundary investigation and collaboration on trans-national environmental crime.
8. Strengthen the collaboration of UNEP, UN offce for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), CITES, World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL on trans-national environmental crime – including illegal trade in valuable natural resources such as minerals, wood products and wildlife – by, for example, secondment of experienced offcers to help investigate cases and bring about prosecutions.
9. Support the need for strengthened funding for gorilla research and survey data. The report, compiling some of the most recent data and information from a variety of sources, clearly highlights the lack of accurate survey data in parts of the regions within the 10 gorilla range states.
VIDEO: Satinder Bindra interviews Christian Nelleman
http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/gorilla/UNEP/GRID-Arendal - Publications - Last Stand of the Gorilla Gorillas, the largest... more-
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UN: Gorillas in danger of extinction
Gorillas in central Africa are in danger from illegal logging, mining and from hunters who are killing great apes for meat, said a joint report from the United Nations and Interpol released Wednesday.
A previous report in 2002 estimated that only 10 percent of gorillas would remain by 2030. The author of the 2002 report and of the newly released one said that estimate now appears too optimistic.
"We fear now that the gorillas may become extinct from most parts of their range in perhaps 15 years," U.N. Environmental Program's Christian Nellemann said.
One of the dangers gorillas now face is a large increase in logging for timber that is mostly destined for Asia, particularly China, said Nellemann, also editor-in-chief of the newly released report "The Last Stand of The Gorilla."
Militant factions have also taken over gorilla land, making the protection of gorillas extremely difficult, he said. Increasing human populations and the deadly ebola virus are also killing gorillas.
Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, said that logging and mining camps hire poachers to supply refugees and markets with the meat of wild animals, including gorillas.
The report calls for greater scrutiny of European and Asian companies using subsidiaries to extract timber and minerals from central Africa.
"This is tragedy for the great apes and one also for countless other species being impacted by this intensifying and all too often illegal trade," Steiner said in a statement. "In short it is environmental crime and theft by the few and the powerful at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable."
David Higgins, manager of the Interpol Environmental Crime Program, said that gorillas are a victim of the contempt shown by organized crime groups toward national and international laws aimed at defending wildlife.
The report, however, contained some good news as well. An unpublished survey of one area of eastern Congo in the center of the conflict zone discovered 750 previously unknown critically endangered eastern lowland gorillas.
"What we are worried about is that these gorillas are disappearing faster than we can actually mobilize resources to save them," said Nellemann, who called for increased resources for UNEP and Interpol to protect great apes.
The report also found that the number of mountain gorillas in the Virungas, a transboundary national park, has risen 12 percent since 2007 as a result of strengthened law enforcement.
There are four distinct types of gorilla. Three are listed as critically endangered and one is listed as endangered.
Help save the gorillas!
International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP)
http://www.igcp.org/Gorillas in central Africa are in danger from illegal logging, mining and from hunters... more-
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The Cairo Connection: Egypt - A documentary about the Ape smuggling crisis.
- FULL LENGTH FILM -
Despite an international ban, the trade in endangered animals to the Middle East is flourishing. This exclusive report tracks the dealers, buyers and government officials who protect them.
In January 2005, a crate containing six baby chimpanzees and four monkeys was rescued from a flight from Cairo. The animals had been denied food and water for days and one soon died. Scouring flight records, animal investigators linked the shipment to a notorious wildlife smuggler. It's believed this smuggler traffics an average of 40 chimpanzees a year, bribing airport officials. Despite a wealth of evidence against her, she has never been prosecuted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7gsvvzlab8&NR=1
There is NO EXCUSE for this horror. As a compassionate and smart consumer, know where you 'stuff' comes from!
Please do not add to the environmental devastation and ethical atrocities taking place.
Climate change (global warming) already threatens these magnificent beings with extinction. Deforestation, mining and "exploration" in the DRC (& surrounding African nations) is driven by CONSUMERISM.
Please visit my blogger page http://julesrs007saveanimals.blogspot.com/ for links and other information on how to help this magnificent & endangered being, the Mountain Gorilla.- FULL LENGTH FILM - Despite an international ban, the trade in endangered animals... more-
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African leaf-eating primates 'likely to be wiped out' by climate change
Monkey species will become 'increasingly at risk of extinction' because of global warming, according to new research, published this week. It reveals that populations of monkeys and apes in Africa that depend largely on a diet of leaves may be wiped out by a rise in annual temperatures of two degrees Celsius.
The study by researchers from Bournemouth University, Roehampton University and the University of Oxford suggests that the species most at risk are the already endangered gorillas and colobine monkeys.
The paper, published online by Animal Behaviour, pinpoints which species are most threatened by climate change in a series of new global maps. They show current and predicted distribution patterns of primates, comparing the populations according to their diet and the amount of enforced rest they are predicted to need.
They warn that Old World monkey populations in Africa will be hardest hit even by a very modest two degrees Celsius increase in global mean temperature, especially those whose diets are mainly leaf-based such as the beautiful colobine monkeys. In contrast, New World monkeys in South America will be virtually unaffected by a rise of two degrees in mean temperatures.
However, even the South American species will begin to suffer if temperatures rise as much as four degrees Celsius (the currently predicted most extreme value) because suitable habitats will then become increasingly fragmented and small fragmented populations are more liable to chance risks of extinction.
These predictions are based on analyses of the ecological constraints that determine how much time animals are forced to rest. The researchers found that animals that have forced rest have less time to forage for food or engage in other biologically essential activities, such as forming friendships. Although most primates have adaptations that help them cope with the heat, they head for shelter and rest when the sun gets too hot.
The researchers show that resting time is influenced by three main factors: the percentage of leaves in the animals' diet, temperature variation and mean annual temperature. When these three effects come together, susceptible species will be unable to cope and populations will go extinct.
detailed article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091220174210.htm
related article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028090530.htmMonkey species will become 'increasingly at risk of extinction' because of... more-
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Logging Threatens 'Dependant' Apes
VIDEO - http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=9307091-
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gorilla hands for sale: 6 USD
"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species
(DRC, Africa)
GORILLA HANDS FOR SALE AT A MARKET IN THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO... FOR 6 US DOLLARS.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC & DISTURBING IMAGES
This slideshow includes other critically endangered species also for sale.
Some are STILL ALIVE.
Please follow link to 'Endangered Species International' (ESI) for more information & to see what you can do to help..
For the first time, ESI reveal's photos of their field monitoring using undercover methods at key markets in the republic of Congo. Their research reveals that most of illegal bushmeat sold in markets originates from one single region where primary and unprotected rainforest still remains.
ESI estimates about 300 gorillas are illegally killed each year for the bushmeat market in the city of Pointe Noire.
With your help, ESI can stop the illegal commercial hunting of endangered species in Central Africa.
DID ANYONE HEAR THIS?
$6.OO...
THIS IS UNEXCEPABLE!"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered... more-
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Orangutans vs Palm Plantations
Demand sustainable palm oil is used by Supermarkets/Manufacturers! http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-the-orangutan-demand-sustainable-palm-oil-use.html#sign
Unsustainable palm oil plantations are the biggest threat and killer of the Orangutans in Borneo and Sumatra.
http://www.orangutan.net/orangutans-home/items-to-avoid/palm-oil
http://redapes.org/take-action/orangutan-palm-oil-factoids-this-list-is-a-great-start/
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/ecology/bio-fuels-and-supermarkets-kill-orangutans/201Demand sustainable palm oil is used by Supermarkets/Manufacturers!... more-
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Rwanda 'baptises' 18 endangered baby gorillas
KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) — Rwanda "baptised" 18 rare baby mountain gorillas at what has become an annual event to highlight the plight of the endangered species.
The baby gorillas, however, were not physically present at the colourful ceremony at the edge of a national park where the primates live.
Eighteen masked people represented the gorillas at the event, which included songs and dances, attended by senior government officials including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza.
Tourism Minister Monique Nsanzabaganwa said government was expanding the the size of the volcanic park by 10 percent by the end of the year in a bid to promote the conservation of the gorillas.
"This campaign is to encourage gorilla conservation initiatives and to promote the local tourism industry," she said.
"Tourism remains one of Rwanda's key sectors," she added.
The ceremony was the fifth of its kind in Rwanda in as many years. A total of 103 gorillas have been baptised and officially received a name so far, according to AFP count.
The world's last mountain gorillas are concentrated in the mountains straddling the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
They number around 700 in all, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) — Rwanda "baptised" 18 rare baby mountain... more-
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GORILLAS – Gentle Giants in Need
International Experts Issue Frankfurt Declaration to Call for Better Protection of Gorillas
Under the title 'Gentle Giants in need” 160 government officials, experts, corporate representatives and conservationists from 20 countries attended a conference in Frankfurt, 9-10 June to mark the UN Year of the Gorilla, a global campaign to help implement the gorilla agreement.
In the “Frankfurt Declaration” they highlighted major threats to gorillas and their habitats, as well as the strategies available for the conservation of the second closest relative to
humankind.
In the Declaration delegates appeal to governments, the international community and industrial companies to enhance activities to reduce threats to the remaining gorilla populations in the wild, which can contribute to peace-making and prosperity in Central Africa.
Why are the gorillas threatened with extinction? Humans.
An omnipresent yet invisible threat to gorillas and their habitats, as well as to countless other species, is the ever-growing human demand for energy and its consequences.
Human encroachment, "bushmeat" hunting, the destruction of their habitat for charcoal, and coltan mining.
Charcoal production is a major threat to gorilla forests in many areas, not least the Mountain Gorilla habitat in Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. To reduce this threat, solar cookers, tree-planting on farms and the spread of fuel-efficient stoves are needed.
The Year of the Gorilla (YoG) is supporting a project in the Mountain Gorillas’ range which enables local residents to purchase highly fuel-efficient stoves for a low price, thereby enabling them to use less firewood, which is often taken from the very same forests that are home to the gorillas.
For more information:
'GRASP' - Great Ape Survival Partnership http://www.unep.org/grasp/International Experts Issue Frankfurt Declaration to Call for Better Protection of... more-
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