Camera Trap Monday: Cross River Gorilla
Another day, another stunning camera trap photo. This one is of a silverback Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies, and it was taken in Nigera’s Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary.
By Jason G. Goldman
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
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Another day, another stunning camera trap photo. This one is of a silverback Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), the rarest of the four gorilla subspecies, and it was taken in Nigera's Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary. There are only some three hundred individuals from this subspecies still living in the wild, and they're only found in the heavily forested mountains along the Nigeria-Cameroon border.
Since most of the Cross River Gorillas live outside of protected areas, their main threats come from habitat loss, thanks to farming and road construction, and from poaching. Given how few individuals there are, the subspecies is also at risk of inbreeding and will suffer from the resulting loss of genetic diversity.
Photo via Wildlife Conservation Society, used with permission.
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