大象传媒

Estimates of the population size of western gorillas vary at between 90,000 to 110,000 individuals. Exact data is difficult to establish owing to the nature of their tropical forest home, but many believe these estimates are exaggerated. Gorillas face several problems: the loss and degradation of the forests for logging and agriculture; the demand for meat in a growing urban market - with gorilla prized as a symbol of prestige - and most dramatically the devastation caused by the Ebola virus. Since 1995, a conservative estimate suggests that one third of the total gorilla population may have died from Ebola alone, and it continues to spread.