HOME SWEET HOME; The Rainforest

There is no place in this world as sweet and comfortable as the rainforest and mountain slopes to the Cross River gorilla. The Cameroon Forest (Lebialem Highlands, Takamanda National Park, Mone forest reserve, Mbulu Forest of South West Region and Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary of North West Region) inhabits up to 280 Cross River gorillas with about 40 to 60 living in the Tofala wildlife. In the forest, they live in nests and construct new ones as they move from one part of the forest to another, usually in a group of four to seven individuals, for temporary settlement. Their nests are found in high concentrations mostly in hilly areas in the proposed Tofala Hill Wildlife Sanctuary. Recent nest-cluster indicates that group size is typically small of less than 5 weaned individuals and a group as large as 13 or more weaned individuals and may divide into smaller foraging parties.

The animals eat frequently to maintain their body weight. They feed on fruits, roots, stems, seeds, leaves and sometimes on ants and termites. Like humans, the Cross River gorilla breastfeed their kids and frequently split into temporary subgroups for-food hunting in and around the forest. They show more stable grouping patterns with the same adult individuals traveling together for months. Results from nests, feeding signs and trail observation showed that gorilla tend to maintain a relatively stable range throughout the rainy and dry seasons but other reports hold that gorilla use higher elevations in the wet season and retreat to valley bottoms in the dry season. Meanwhile, ecological studies carried out in Kagwene Mountain revealed that the daily cross river gorilla range is roughly 1km with an annual range of over 19km².

This human cousin lives under constant pressure and threats from surrounding forest communities ranging from the conversion of habitat into grazing and farmlands and road construction by logging companies to unregulated hunting and bushmeat trade. With all these couples with the fact that the Cross River gorilla give birth to one baby after every 4-5 years, it is feared that this animal species will become extinct if stringent measures are not taken to reverse this situation. Meanwhile, the Conservation International and the Primate Specialist Division of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has classified this species as one of the 25 most endangered wildlife species and most critically endangered African Primate.

In the wild, gorillas have a lifespan of between 30 and 40 years. When kept in captivity can live for up to 50 years. They are shy and less aggressive unless improperly disturbed and regularly beat their chest to intimidate outsiders, communicate and maintain hierarchy amongst groups.