They are quietly majestic and they are on the verge of extinction. The Cross River Gorilla, akin to the Western Gorilla, lives in a remote area of 750km in the bordered environs of Nigeria and Cameroon. The future of their lineage is dependent on less than 300; and that number is threatened by us: by our lack of respect for their right to survive; by our hunting them as a food source, “bushmeat;” and, by our intrusion into their forests, their mountains - their natural surroundings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_River_Gorilla)
Cross River Gorillas are private creatures that live in small family groups of about 7 to maybe 17. They socialize and communicate through a variety of vocal sounds, each of which denotes a particular activity or situation such as play, potential danger, and mating. Families increase slowly as births occur every four to five years; and their life expectancy is 30 to 40 years in the wild and perhaps to 50 under our patronage. They are intelligent and sensate to other animals, and protective of their own.
Our lives, yours and mine, are constantly in motion and flourish through our daily interactions, our urban and suburban environments, our treatment of one another and everything that exists in nature. Whether we choose to realize it or not; what we do or don’t do; what we acknowledge or turn a blind eye to; how we treat or mistreat each other; how we respect or disrespect everything on this earth of ours reverberates from person to person, city to city, and nation to nation to the exclusion of no one, and no animal – feral or domestic – Everything has repercussions worldwide. It is a cause and effect from which we have no escape, though many of us choose to ignore it.
Dian Fossey was quite eloquent in her simplicity, “When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Wildlife around the world shares in our earthly existence regardless of proximity, and it is our humane responsibility to accept their natural rights for co-existence. When we trespass into their domain in order to “support” our lives, we have to do so with caution, respect, and the determination to protect their lives and habitats from future endangerment or worse, from possible extinction.
The Takamanda National Park in Cameroon was established by its government as a preserve to protect the Cross River Gorillas. The Cross River National Park in Nigeria borders with Takamanda’s Park and together they provide an expansive sanctuary for approximately 115 Cross River Gorillas as well as other endangered wildlife.
There are countless people, institutions, foundations and other organizations dedicated to eradicating the frightening prospect of extinction of certain species of wildlife, especially the wildlife that is already considered critically endangered by man. When someone says, “But I’m just one person, what can I do …,” it is up to you and me to tell them, convince them, that life has meaning, that life is worth saving, and that the strength, efforts, and realization of our life and the life of any endangered wildlife, in this instance the Cross River Gorilla, inevitably touches one other. There are no distances in our lives; there are only the limitations with which we surround and enclose ourselves.
Paul Ehrlich put it quite succinctly when he said, “Few problems are less recognized, but more important than, the accelerating disappearance of the earth’s biological resources. In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched.”
Gorillas in the mist …. Fossey (Sigourney Weaver) is inspired by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey (Ian Cuthbertson) to devote her life to the study of primates.
Science Quotes by Dian Fossey (1)
The more you learn about the dignity of the gorilla, the more you want to avoid people.
The man who kills the animals today is the man who kills the people who get in his way tomorrow.
Dian Fossey
When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Dian Fossey
I feel more comfortable with gorillas than people. I can anticipate what a gorilla’s going to do, and they’re purely motivated.
Dian Fossey
“You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla”
African Proverb quotes
“He who refuses to learn deserves extinction.” Rabbi Hillel quotes.
Few problems are less recognized, but more important than, the accelerating disappearance of the earth’s biological resources. In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched.
They are quietly majestic and they are on the verge of extinction. The Cross River Gorilla, akin to the Western Gorilla, lives in a remote area of 750km in the bordered environs of Nigeria and Cameroon. The future of their lineage is dependent on less than 300; and that number is threatened by us: by our lack of respect for their right to survive; by our hunting them as a food source, “bushmeat;” and, by our intrusion into their forests, their mountains - their natural surroundings.
Cross River Gorillas are private creatures that live in small family groups of about 7 to maybe 17. They socialize and communicate through a variety of vocal sounds, each of which denotes a particular activity or situation such as play, potential danger, and mating. Families increase slowly as births occur every four to five years; and their life expectancy is 30 to 40 years in the wild and perhaps to 50 under our patronage. They are intelligent and sensate to other animals, and protective of their own.
Our lives, yours and mine, are constantly in motion and flourish through our daily interactions, our urban and suburban environments, our treatment of one another and everything that exists in nature. Whether we choose to realize it or not; what we do or don’t do; what we acknowledge or turn a blind eye to; how we treat or mistreat each other; how we respect or disrespect everything on this earth of ours reverberates from person to person, city to city, and nation to nation to the exclusion of no one, and no animal – feral or domestic – Everything has repercussions worldwide. It is a cause and effect from which we have no escape, though many of us choose to ignore it.
Dian Fossey was quite eloquent in her simplicity, “When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Wildlife around the world shares in our earthly existence regardless of proximity, and it is our humane responsibility to accept their natural rights for co-existence. When we trespass into their domain in order to “support” our lives, we have to do so with caution, respect, and the determination to protect their lives and habitats from future endangerment or worse, from possible extinction
The Takamanda National Park in Cameroon was established by its government as a preserve to protect the Cross River Gorillas. The Cross River National Park in Nigeria borders with Takamanda’s Park and together they provide an expansive sanctuary for approximately 115 Cross River Gorillas as well as other endangered wildlife
There are countless people, institutions, foundations and other organizations dedicated to eradicating the frightening prospect of extinction of certain species of wildlife, especially the wildlife that is already considered critically endangered by man. When someone says, “But I’m just one person, what can I do …,” it is up to you and me to tell them, convince them, that life has meaning, that life is worth saving, and that the strength, efforts, and realization of our life and the life of any endangered wildlife, in this instance the Cross River Gorilla, inevitably touches one other. There are no distances in our lives; there are only the limitations with which we surround and enclose ourselves
Paul Ehrlich put it quite succinctly when he said, “Few problems are less recognized, but more important than, the accelerating disappearance of the earth's biological resources. In pushing other species to extinction, humanity is busy sawing off the limb on which it is perched
