Economic sustainability for the people of the Kahuzi-Biega region may mean long-term stability for the great apes that share the forest. [caption id="attachment_283" align="alignright" width="227"] Cassava mill[/caption] Kahuzi-Biega National Park is one of the last remaining habitats of the eastern lowland gorilla, and the personnel who guard...
Among the many primate species, the great apes are unique and share several important traits. This taxonomic family includes gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans and, according to some experts, humans. Great apes are not only the largest primates, but also the most cognitively advanced. With the...
Although gorillas have often been miscast as violent animals, they’re actually fairly docile and avoid confrontation unless provoked or threatened. They’re the largest primate, with adult males usually weighing between 300 and 400 pounds. Their fur ranges in colour from brown to black; mountain gorillas...
Although very similar in appearance to chimpanzees, bonobos were identified as a separate species in 1933. Their name is probably derived from the misspelling of a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) called Bolobo. Bonobos are found primarily in the DRC. They have...
With the help of the Forest Health Alliance, a group of Congolese widows has formed a cooperative to run a poultry farm. They can now provide for their families—and help protect endangered gorillas in the long run. The problem: In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are...
Chimpanzees are our closest evolutionary relatives—taxonomically, we’re both members of the Hominini tribe, and we share more than 95 percent of our DNA. In the wild, chimpanzees demonstrate the widest variety of tool use and development of all the great apes. They have a varied...
Orangutans are the only great ape that lives exclusively in Asia. Their name is derived form the Malay words “orang” (meaning “person”) and “hutan” (meaning “of the forest”). Adult male orangutans are usually twice as a large and have more facial hair than adult females....
What is TL2 and what’s the Forest Health Alliance doing there? At the very heart of the Congo River basin, three major rivers surround a 65,000-square-kilometre tract of forest in central Democratic Republic of Congo. Called TL2, because of the three bordering rivers (Tshuapa, Lomami and...
The Forest Health Alliance is dedicated to raising awareness about this growing problem and finding ways to prevent the continued slaughter of endangered animals....
The apes of Central Africa are dying. For countless generations, humans co-existed in the jungle with chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos within a sustainable balance. As logging roads penetrate ever deeper into the forests, this balance is being destroyed. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X20DuXa6SBE While once eaten infrequently for subsistence, apes are...