Rarest African Ape Captured on Video

Camera traps set up in the forests of western Cameroon have captured some the first video of critically endangered Cross River gorillas, a species so rare that no more than 300 individuals are believed to exist in the wild.

The cameras – which are triggered by motion sensors – clearly identify a family of four gorillas moving through the Cameroon's Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary. Although one gorilla appears to be missing a hand, the group appears otherwise healthy in the nearly two-minute clip.

The camera traps are part of a conservation project led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which works with the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) and other organizations in the region to protect Cross River gorillas and their habitat.

“This video is extremely important, both from a scientific point of view and as a means of emphasizing the plight of the Cross River gorillas,” said GRASP coordinator Doug Cress. “This footage illustrates the beauty and the fragility of the species, and adds urgency to the fight to protect them.”

'Chimpanzee' Earns High Praise, Record Sales

Chimpanzee, the DisneyNature documentary that follows an orphaned ape through the forests of West Africa, opened last week to glowing reviews and the third-highest documentary box office in history.

Chimpanzee earned $10.2 million in ticket sales in its first three days, and was hailed by critics as “astounding” (the Boston Globe) and “astonishingly vivid and intimate” (the Chicago Sun-times). The Washington Post declared the “movie's heart is absolutely in the right place.”

A portion of ticket proceeds from Chimpanzee during the first week of release will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute to support conservation efforts in Africa.

Chimpanzee was shot in cooperation with the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation in Côte d’Ivoire, and tracks the true-life travails of an infant male chimpanzee whose mother is killed by a leopard. The infant is adopted by others in his social group, and learns to survive in a beautiful but harsh environment.

Indonesia Government Launches Sumatra Investigation

Indonesia’s Ministry of the Environment announced today it will open an investigation into the issuance of permits to convert rainforests into palm oil plantations in Sumatra, an allegedly illegal act that may have caused the death of hundreds of orangutans in man-made fires that were set to clear the land.

The ministry’s announcement came in response to findings by the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) forest carbon reduction task force.

On April 13, the government-formed task force said it had evidence that Kallista Alam, a palm oil company, had violated regulations in turning the swamp forest into a plantation. The task force recommended that the ministry and the police further scrutinize the company’s actions.

“The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) applauds the Government of Indonesia for taking this bold step,” said GRASP coordinator Doug Cress. “The scale of the damage caused by these fires may not be immediately clear, but there’s no doubt that orangutans in Sumatra are in a perilous condition. As many as five percent of the total population may have been lost in these fires.”

The Patrons of GRASP – great ape experts Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey, Richard Wrangham and Russell Mittermeier – sent a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on April 13 asking to intervene in Sumatra, as the country’s biodiversity was under “extreme threat.”

GRASP Patrons Ask Indonesian President to Intervene

Characterizing Indonesia’s biodiversity as under “extreme threat,” the patrons of the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) – Jane Goodall, Richard Leakey, Richard Wrangham and Russell Mittermeier – today sent a letter to the President of Indonesia asking him to halt the destruction currently underway in Sumatra and enforce laws that protect orangutans and their habitat.

The letter was sent to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in response to man-made fires in the Leuser Ecosystem that were set to clear rainforest for oil palm plantations through allegedly illegal permits.

To read the letter, click here.

GRASP Calls for Orangutan Protection in Sumatra

The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) today expressed “grave concern” over an alleged illegal palm oil concession and man-made fires that have affected rainforests in northern Sumatra and threatened to wipe out entire populations of orangutans living in the region, and called on the Government of Indonesia to enforce laws protecting orangutans and their habitat.

The fires – which were started to clear land for palm oil expansion in Sumatra’s Aceh Province —have ripped through the Tripa peat swamp, home to a spectacular range of biodiversity within the protected Leuser Ecosystem.