Mountain Essay Example For Students

Mountain Essay GorillasHalf man and half beast this is what is usually said about the gorilla. They say that the gorilla is related to us. You can find mountain gorillas inthe Virunga Volcanoes, which are located on the boundaries of Zaire, Rwanda, andUganda. The Virungas are 600 miles of tropical rainforest. Youll find thenroaming around 7,800 and 11,000 feet, but at low elevations. The gorillas livein units. Most of the units consist of about 6-12 members in it, most of thembeing related in some way. With each unit, there is a leader, usually an oldsilverback, who was a virtual dictator. A silverback male has large canines andhe may weigh 400 pounds. He is the one who decides when to proceed, and when tostop, and which direction to go. When he sleeps, everyone else is supposed to besleeping to, and then he gives a signal to wake up. When the old silverback getstoo old, then his eldest son usually is the one to take over. The females areusually responsible for the nursing portion in the unit. Gorillas are peacefuland tolerant by nature. Whenever two groups meet, they either i gnore each other,or they give each other a grumpy grunt. Sometimes the two groups would even staytogether, and then eventually separate. There are many rumors about gorillasbeing very violent, but there are no reports about it. There are times when theyhave little mock fights, but there is never any blood shed in them. Right nowthere are not too many mountain gorillas you will find in the Virungas. Theirpopulation is only in the hundreds. In 1960, there was an estimated 450 gorillasstill remaining in two isolated habitats. In a 1981 census, it gave a figure ofabout 254 gorillas. Right now there is somewhere between 400-450 mountaingorillas that have survived. There are so few of these creatures for manyreasons. There are many poachers who kill the gorillas for their head or handsto sell to tourists as a souvenir, or hunter that kill them to have a trophy. With so much of this going on, the rangers of the parks so not think there willbe anymore of these gorillas left by the end of the century. There have been afew projects and conservation groups made to save this endangered species. TheWashington-based African Wildlife Foundation, started a program in the parks onpark security, to prevent as much poaching. The tourist program also developedrapidly. They went from 1,352 paid visitors in 1978 to 5,790 in 1984. With thehelp of the money from tourism, they were able to start some programs on theconservation of the mountain gorillas. The basic issues of the groups andprograms are human population and the way land is used. The future for thegorillas look very bleak. Illegal logging, gold prospecting, and hunting hasbecome more and more popular where the gorillas live. To assure gorillas afuture will require a dedication that can not just be done through projects oreven years or centuries, but it takes a commitment for the rest of eternity. BibliographyBaumgartel, Walter. Up Among the Mountain Gorillas. New York: Hawthorn Books,1976. Fossey, Dian. Gorillas in the Mist. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1983. Patterson, Francine. The Education of Koko. New York: Holt, Rinehart, andWinston, 1981. Schaller, George B. Gorilla: Struggle for Survival in theVirungas. New York: Aperture Book, 1989.