Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, the 3 countries that share the Virunga Massif are working together through their different wildlife agencies to carry out a mountain gorilla census in order to determine the exact number of the currently existing mountain gorillas living within the Virunga as well as the neighboring conservation area Bwindi impenetrable park. The lead body has its office in Rwanda and the project is a Greater Virunga Trans-boundary group effort.
The last census was done in 2010 and indicated 480 gorilla survivors but this time they are expected to be more than that because of the sustainable conservation efforts and protection measures established the last 5 years. This census is also intended to help provide information about the gorilla population demographics meaning things like how many adolescents, silverbacks, females, blackbacks, as well as the young ones.
This census follows an update in the treaty signed by the 3 countries sharing these gorillas and this treaty also dictates cooperation and coordination by all means to protect the gorillas.
When it comes to gorilla census, there are a few question asked to better understand the census project and Maurice Twahirwa of RDB answered a few.
1. What is a gorilla census?
This means a population study through which you are able to establish the number mountain gorillas alive in a particular location. This survey is really intensive which is why it’s called a census. This is done every after 5 years if the governments can provide the human and financial resources.
Mountain gorillas are found in the Virunga Massif and Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park which is neighboring DRC’s Sarambwe Nature Reserve.
2. Why or how often do you conduct a mountain gorilla census?
Normally, it’s the births and deaths of gorillas from the habituated group that is recorded for purposes of tourism and research nut the unhabituated ones are never recorded anywhere. Through programs like the gorilla survey which considers the unhabituated gorillas too, we can determine the total number of them surviving.
This census helps with the demographic information as well as the family sizes, where these families are found in relation to the different vegetation cover, to other gorilla families, to the park borders as well as to the different human activities near the park.
3. How do you conduct a gorilla census?
This actually requires physical presence; teams of people go hiking in the forest to search for the gorilla trails to get to their different nest locations from where they collect gorilla faecal samples. The samples are delivered to Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to be analyzed individually using DNA identifiers just no gorilla is counted twice.
In order to cover the whole Virunga forest systematically, the forest is divided and then mapped into different zones and therefore, they teams walk from one Zone to another and consider trails that are not more than 500 m apart. There will be two sweeps this time round, a sweep is the complete study of an entire zone .
4. Who will be involved in this 2015 Virunga Massif gorilla census?
The Protected Area Authorities in these 3 countries, DRC’s l’Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature, Rwanda’s Rwanda Development Board, and Uganda’s Uganda Wildlife Authority will be conducting the census operating with a trans-boundary structure of the Greater Virunga Trans-boundary cooperation. The project is sustained by International Gorilla Conservation Programme which is a coalition of Fauna & Flora International and WWF, Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund International, North Carolina Zoo, Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Gorilla Doctors.
And its financial aid comes through WWF, Fauna & Flora International and Partners in Conservation at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium.
5. Is The Security Of These Teams Guaranteed?
Security wise, all teams on the survey are escorted by park rangers while on the hike every day and will also have protection from security personnel from within the 3 countries.
6. When did they conduct the last mountain-gorilla census and which findings were made?
The most recent study done was in Virunga Massif and that was in 2010. The results showed that there were 480 gorillas living in 36 groups and 14 silverbacks living in isolation. In Bwindi, the last census was done in 2011 and results showed about 400 mountain gorillas lived in there within 36 social groups and about 16 silverbacks were in isolation.
7. Describe the trend of the mountain gorilla population, is it stable, or increasing, or decreasing?
According to the results of the last 20 years, gorillas are increase in numbers in both Virunga and Bwindi. Over the years, the methods of determining their population has been improving which means the results are definitely accurate.
8. What challenges are encountered during the mountain gorilla census and how do they overcome them?
There are lots of difficulties that are faced during the study like the rough terrain of the Virunga Massif and steep slopes which slows down the teams.
High level of organization by numerous agencies and institutions is a necessity since the project involves taking different groups in and out of the forests to visit them time to rest before they can continue. Also, it is very costly ensuring that the teams have water, food, and power all the time.
9. In the upcoming gorilla census what is different that was not done in the earlier mountain gorilla census?
This is the very first time they will be using electronic devices while in the field for data entry. This will save time and ensure efficient data collection.
There is also a set up DNA library for the already known gorillas from habituated families which will be the reference point to the already tested samples. This is done to minimize risks of double-counting or even under-counting.