GORILLAS AT THE DURRELL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION TRUST (UK)

While the gorilla is the largest of all the primates, it is not deserving of its fierce King Kong image. Five different races or ‘sub-species’ of gorilla are currently recognised, all of which face a severe threat of extinction in their native equatorial African habitat. The gruesome and growing illegal trade in gorilla ‘bush meat’ and the all too common problem of habitat loss are the main reasons for the decline of these magnificent apes.
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust has kept western lowland gorillas since 1959 – the year it opened. The first to arrive was two-year-old female N’pongo, who died in 1999 at the grand old age of 42. To date, 15 valuable babies have been born here; most are now at other zoos and continue to make a valuable contribution to the breeding programme for their highly endangered species.  See the Durrell website for more information on their valuable conservation work.  http://www.durrell.org/ 

Photographs supplied by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust