Give the gift of life this Christmas, adopt a Gorilla to help the Dian Fossey Fund continue their critical work
I have just received this 'Gorilliant' infographic from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. It helped to remind me that as our human population shoots past 7 billion, the numbers of one of our
closest relatives - the mountain gorilla, still hangs on to less than 800. It's a sobering thought to think that without the help of organisations like the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund we might already have seen the last of them.
The most famous encounter with mountain gorillas was by Sir David Attenborough when he visited Dian Fosseys sanctuary in Rwanda whilst filming 'Life on Earth' in 1979. His words reflect on their similarities to our own species.
"There is more meaning and mutual understanding in exchanging a glance
with a gorilla than with any other animal I know. Their sight, their
hearing, their sense of smell are so similar to ours that they see the
world in much the same way as we do. We live in the same sort of social
groups with largely permanent family relationships. They walk around on
the ground as we do, though they are immensely more powerful than we
are. So if there were ever a possibility of escaping the human condition
and living imaginatively in another creature's world, it must be with
the gorilla. The male is an enormously powerful creature but he only
uses his strength when he is protecting his family and it is very rare
that there is violence within the group. So it seems really very unfair
that man should have chosen the gorilla to symbolise everything that is
aggressive and violent, when that is the one thing that the gorilla is
not — and that we are." - Sir David Attenborough
So what's bothering our hairy brethren?
The Mountain Gorilla live in Uganda, Rwanda and
the Democratic Republic of Congo amongst some of the highest human population densities
and lowest adult life spans, literacy rates, and standards of living in
the world. Ultimately, human poverty is their greatest threat. They face
habitat loss when
their forests are converted to farmland and pasture, poachers’ snares
set for other animals such as antelopes, diseases probably transmitted
by humans, and poaching for the
gorilla infant trade.
To help combat these threats and continue their work, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund are running a campaign urging people to spread some Christmas cheer to our hairy pals. Adopt a Gorilla and help them continue their great work. You can find out more about the Eastern Gorilla, and the other Gorilla species that they are working to save, on their website.
Remember, a Gorilla is for life not just for Christmas.
