With only around 800 mountain gorillas left in the world, seeing them in the wild is something only a few people will ever have the chance to experience. There are different mountain gorilla groups or families in different parts of Africa where Gorillas are found that is Uganda (Bwindi National park and Mgahinga national park), Rwanda (Volcanoes Park) and Congo organized according to fascinating social structures. All gorilla groups are led by one dominant older adult male often called a silverback because of the swath of silver hair that adorns his otherwise dark fur. Gorilla families or groups also include several other young males, some females, and their offspring. Mountain gorillas have longer hair and shorter arms than their lowland cousins. They also tend to be a bit larger than other gorillas; they climb trees but usually found on the ground.
Getting to see gorillas is not easy, nor are you guaranteed to see them. The trek to where the gorilla groups live takes you through very dense vegetation up steep slopes and can last between 2-9 hours. The dense vegetation is filled with burning and stinging nettles', so wearing gloves is a good idea, long socks to tuck your trousers into. The gorillas you will be meeting are habituated to humans which is why you are able to get quite close to them and you will also be with the company of the park ranger guide. As you plan your trip to see the mountain Gorillas, where to stay, how much it costs, use the best experienced safari company which will offer you what you are looking for on your wonderful holiday vacation.
But currently there is a virus that usually infects only humans which has caused the deaths of wild mountain gorillas in Africa.This was the report from the U.S. and several African countries' researchers.(UC Davis nonprofit Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University and the Rwanda Development Board).In the past years (2008-2009), a group of mountain gorillas living in Rwanda experienced an outbreak of respiratory disease that resulted in the deaths of a female gorilla a disease caused by metapnenovirus.The virus is also referred to as human metapneumovirus since it only used to cause harm to human s unlike the gorillas.
As soon as Lowenstine looked at the tissues of the gorillas under the microscope, she found bacterial pneumonia that often occurs after a viral infection weakens the immune system. The infant showed signs of poor nutrition and umbilical infections, likely due to the mother feeling too ill to properly care for her young.Lowenstine worked with collaborators in New York to detect and identify a virus in the gorillas. One of the collaborators was Gustavo Palacios, a virologist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University in New York.
"One of the concerns at the start was to know if it was a new virus or if it was an unknown virus," Palacios said. He also said that the researchers found that the closest relative was to human cases of pneumonia in South Africa. "(The virus] is not necessarily from there," Palacios said, "but it is a close neighbor."
Mountain gorillas are protected in national parks in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; however, according to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, the densest human populations in continental Africa surround them. Since gorillas share 98.5 percent of their DNA with humans, this could put them at risk for human-borne infectious diseases.
"Gorillas and other great apes are at risk to many human viruses, including chicken pox, and measles," Lowenstine said. So far, researchers are unsure if HMPV infection in mountain gorillas is a recent species jump or if mountain gorillas have always been at risk due to the genetic similarity. Its not only gorillas but HMPV has been confirmed in chimpanzees, but how frequent this jump occurs is the question," Palacios said. "If we explore other ecological niches like non-human primates, bats and rodents that have close contact with humans, we can try to predict what are the mechanisms that guide species jumps." As the public and researchers pay a great deal of attention to the possibility of animal viruses infecting humans there is increasing research that it isn't a one way road but a two way highway of transmission between species.
However, not all hope is lost and a lot of measures have been put in place to prevent the beautiful great apes from being affected and Gorilla tracking as an activity in Africa is still the most exciting and credible experience as always.