Primatology.net

I have had the pleasure of working with Tierra Wilson for a couple years at the Gorilla Foundation. Since then, she’s moved off to veterinary school and I to graduate school. We’ve kept in touch and I was elated to hear that she’s going to Rwanda earlier this summer to study the mountain gorillas there. I didn’t know exactly what she’s up to until I came across Lucy Spelman’s blog post in Discover’s Quest: Gorillas in Peril.

The post, “Tierra’s Summer Project: Gorilla Saliva,” documents Tierra research project from inception to finish. She rounded up her own funding to travel and stay in Rwanda where she created a research project to detect infectious pathogens like herpes and influenza in the gorilla populations. As you may have read on this blog, infectious agents, especially pathogens from ‘human caused origins’ have caused a massive number of great ape deaths — especially in gorillas. Therefore, for any successful conservation effort, it is vital to be screening gorilla populations for any signs of infection. Current methods involve sampling fecal matter but previous research has shown that biomarkers for infection can be detected from saliva. After unsuccessful trials of sampling saliva from anesthetized gorillas, Tierra modified her approach using a method inspired from a publication on saliva collection in chimpanzees.

She designed a ‘a mesh bag with a juice-soaked rope,’ which the gorillas would chew to extract the juice from. The device actually sounds a lot like the enrichment activities she and the other gorilla caregivers like I did at the Gorilla Foundation. And it worked really well, she was able to detect alpha-amylase, an enzyme that is used as a biomarker for stress, i.e. a response to inflammation and infection.

Tierra Wilson Collecting Saliva From Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, 2008. Picture: Dr. Lucy Spelman/MGVP

She extended her methods to wild populations, where she and the team, sampled several populations. When the Hirwa and Group 13 gorilla groups came down with respiratory disease, she also collected samples from them.

Her research project has since ended in Rwanda, for now, and the samples are currently being shipped back for more in depth analyses on various viruses, microbes, cortisol levels and gorilla DNA. I’m very proud to hear about her work she has done — especially on other primatology blog’s like Lucy Spelman’s. I’m even proud to say I know, “Hey, I know her and worked with her!”

I have some bittersweet news to share with you. If you’re a regular reader of this site, you may know that gorilla populations have been reported as severely endangered. Most of the problems stem from deforestation and poverty. People chop down trees in Africa and ultimately ruin the ecosystems that support these great apes for money. The bush meat industry, regional violence, and infectious pathogens are also a major influence on the dwindling gorilla populations.

Well, some good news for gorilla conservation came out this week from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), researches shared census reports at the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thanks to Paul Wren for sending me the news. The census data includes a large secluded population (approximately 125,00) of gorillas have resided in two adjacent areas in the northern part of the Republic of Congo, covering an area of 18,000 square

Gorilla Baby & Mom

miles (47,000 square kilometers). So why did such a large number of gorillas go uncounted for?

“WCS says a combination of factors account for such high numbers of gorillas, including successful long-term management of the Republic of Congo’s protected areas; remoteness and inaccessibility of some of the key locations where the gorillas were found; and a habitat where there is plenty to eat, particularly in some of the swamp forests and the “Marantaceae” forests, which are rich in herbs.”

But, this population is only Western lowland gorillas, which are one of four recognized gorilla subspecies. Regardless of this new populations, all subspecies are still considered endangered. Which leads me to this other news piece, where the title basically says it all, “Nearly half of all the world’s primates at risk of extinction.”

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has put out another census report, similar to the WCS, which reports that primate conservation efforts are being drowned out by the bush meat and logging industry. You may remember last year’s census report, where the ‘red list’ was dominated by primate species in the three highest threat categories. In this year’s report, 303 of the 634 primate species are endangered. In other words, 9% more primates species are threatened compared to last year.

Despite the good news of this large population of gorillas in the Republic of Congo, primate conservation is still very much necessary. I’ve been reading some ignoramus comments posted on this blog by people in support of bush meat trade and illegal logging to help impoverished Africans… but these are not sustainable options for Africans. To add to that, when primates species go extinct, and they will so long as advocates support bush meat trade and deforestation, there will be an ecological collapse — what will Africans do for food, money, etc. then? I propose alternatives, which many are already doing, train impoverished Africans to protect and preserve their natural resources. Not only will jobs be created, but conservation efforts will be more successful.