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Last October, four female eastern lowland gorillas were airlifted from their home in Kasgo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), freeing 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast at Birnga National Park.
Less than a year later, they were all successfully integrated into a group of wild gorillas. Conservationists hope that their success will not only prevent local extinctions in isolated populations, but also provide the essential knowledge necessary to protect endangered apes in the future.
Named Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala, women between the ages of 10 and 21 were rescued as babies from the illegal wildlife trade and taken to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Centre (GRACE), where they were rehabilitated for a long time and learned like wild as they were wild. It is considered ready for release, Last fall They flew to mount the Tshiaberimu, a 1,700-meter (5,577 feet) peak in the northern part of the national park, or “Mountain of the Spirits.”
The gorilla surveillance team, which had expected the transition to take anywhere between months and years, was surprised when it appeared ready to leave the enclosure within less than two months.
“It happened much faster than we all expected,” says Katie Fawcett, executive and director of science at Grace Gorillas, an NGO that leads the reconstruction process alongside Viruunga National Park and the community.
This was partly in the appeal of a handsome wild silverback called muwasa. Every day, Mwasa approached the fence of the enclosure, slapped her arm on the ground, and groaned to get the woman’s attention. It worked: they answered his phone and even rendezvoused the indoor den and slept near him along the fence line.
Carefully, the surveillance team decided it was natural for the woman to join him. “We are truly proud of every decision led by the gorillas,” Fawcett tells CNN. “After three days of attention directed at the epic Mwasa, the decision was made: “Let’s go for it.” The fence was cut and it was able to come out. ”
Since then, for the team’s surprise and delight, the four women quickly settled into wild life, adapting to the cold climate of the steep hills of the mountains and a new diet of bamboo shoots and other native plants.
Rangers continue to monitor gorilla health, collect non-invasive biological samples and perform visual assessments, but so far, gorillas have shown no clinical signs of stress.
The biggest excitement came in the New Year when Mwasa was first discovered mating with 16-year-old woman, Ndjingala. Since then, according to Fawcett, three other people have also been seen mating with him. The team is enthusiastically counting the days leading up to September, as the gorillas have a similar gestation period as humans, but she says she is cautiously optimistic.
Birth will be a great hope for the whole species. The eastern lowland gorillas, or Glauer gorillas, are located in the lowland tropical rainforest of the eastern DRC, and is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies. It’s at risk.
Although the Western Lowland Gorilla relocation was successful in the past, Eastern Gorilla releases have a very insufficient survival rate, and are young enough that individuals will die or disappear within weeks of release, or will not survive without a nursing mother.
“The difference between this reintroduction project is that it’s the biggest and it was decided early by not only putting four women in this group, but not just bringing the baby back into the group, but rehabilitating it over a long period of time and ensuring that the gorillas have social and critical survival skills,” says Fawcett. “(We were) trying to mimic the natural behaviour of adult women joining wild groups.”
The project also aimed to provide a significant genetic boost to a small, isolated population of eight gorillas living in Mount Tshiaberimu. Previous scientific modelling found this population to be insurvivable and was estimated to be extinct between 20 and 50 years unless new women were introduced.
“The gorilla population was doomed, but now this intervention has allowed us to be saved,” said Liz Williamson, a professor at the University of Sterling in the UK who specializes in the conservation, ecology and behavior of gorillas that are not part of the project, in an email. She added that the situation facing Glauer gorillas in Eastern DRC is “disaster,” but that translocation could provide multiple conservation benefits.
Billunga National Park Director and Belgian Prince Emmanuel de Merrod praised the initiative “This is a major milestone in our efforts to strengthen lowland gorilla populations in the East, and we are pleased that the gorillas are adapting well to the wild,” the press release stated.
However, there are major challenges within Birunga National Park, which has been at the heart of armed conflict for decades. Since it was created in 1925, more than 200 rangers have been killed in the park, and the recent revival of the M23 rebel group has expanded the issue, and attacks on rangers have become increasingly common. Mount Tshiaberimu is located in a troubled area.
“Working in this field is not easy,” says Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke, DRC director at Grace Gorilla. “The main strategic thing is to put our community in the middle of everything we do, recruiting caregivers and educators trained with grace.
Growing up on his own, he would probably hear them call and slap their breasts as a child when gorillas were spreading. “We grew up in the same habitat and shared the same resources,” he says. “Gorillas are our identity and our totem. They are important pride in this field.”
However, as the population grows, pressure on gorilla habitats is inevitable, and forests are being cleared for agriculture and fire. Due to the extreme need of communities during times of conflict, these threats are rising to resort to hunting gorillas for meat.
Reintroduction is a major breakthrough, but it’s just the beginning. “The real key to successful gorilla conservation in this area is forest conservation,” says Fawcett. “We are very excited about the outcome and how it can help inform these endangered species of people, but we need to stop the populations that will reach that point.”