Gorilla

National parks to protect the African great ape

My illustration for Animal Alphabets, letter #G - Gorilla.
All the subspecies of gorilla are enlisted on the IUCN redlist as critically endangered. Among them the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is the most threatened. It lives in the cloud forest on the mountains of central Africa, in particular the Virunga and Bwindi National Park. It's been estimated that only less than 100 specimens survive. The major threats are poaching and, above all, habitat loss and fragmentation. The human settlement has rapidly increased in the gorilla territories during the last century and this problem was accentuated by the wars in Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The deforestation and ground exploitation for agriculture has lead to a strong reduction of the suitable living space for gorillas. Only recently the mountain gorilla population increased again, thanks to the conservation efforts. However these animals remains critically endangered and their survival depends on the conservation activities (source Wikipedia).
In my illustration the gorilla and its baby are climbing towards higher mountains looking for untouched forest. [2017]