The Ebola virus is depleting the most common type of gorilla -- Western Gorilla to a point one step away from global extinction, media reported Thursday.
Commercial hunting, civil unrest and habitat loss due to logging and forest clearance for palm oil plantations are compounding the problem, said the Swiss-based group known by its acronym IUCN.
"Great apes are our closest living relatives and very special creatures," said Russ Mittermeier, head of IUCN's Primate Specialist Group. "We could fit all the remaining great apes in the world into two or three large football stadiums. There just aren't very many left."
The Western Gorilla's main subspecies — the Western Lowland Gorilla — has been decimated by the Ebola virus, which has wiped out about a third of the gorillas found in protected areas over the last 15 years.
Female gorillas only start reproducing at the age of 9 or 10 and only have one baby about every five years. Walsh said even in ideal conditions, it would take the gorillas decades to bounce back.
"In the last 10 years, Ebola is the single largest killer of apes. Poaching is a close second," said Peter Walsh, a member if IUCN's Primate Specialist Group. "Ebola is knocking down populations to a level where they won't bounce back. The rate of decline is dizzying. If it continues, we'll lose them in 10-12 years."
Source: Xinhua/agencies
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