Proposed Trump Policy Threatens Critically Endangered Grauer’s Gorilla
NOVANEWS
By Sharon Guynup, Mongabay
For weeks, the primatologists had followed a group of Grauer's gorillas over rugged terrain -- hacking through dense rainforest; following knife-edged ravines; and crossing a nearly impenetrable mountainous landscape in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Stuart Nixon, Chryso Kaghoma and their Congolese field team tracked Gorilla beringei graueri using GPS. They collected data on where the animals nested each night, what they ate, and other habits. But the researchers kept their distance, trailing a day behind the primate family, so as not to influence the group's behavior or normalize them to people.
Or so the scientists thought. One day, while sitting quietly in the forest, Nixon heard the bushes move some 10 feet aw...