Ebola, twins and women-led conservation: Reporting on gorillas for World Gorilla Day

Both gorilla species remain at severe risk of extinction, with the eastern gorilla endangered and the western gorilla critically endangered, though the IUCN's latest assessment found stable numbers in some regions even as Grauer's gorilla population fell roughly 60% over 20 years. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a 2026 Ebola outbreak has infected thousands of people, and conservationists are watching closely given a 2002-2003 outbreak that killed around 5,000 western lowland gorillas.

On a brighter note, Virunga National Park recorded two sets of mountain gorilla twins in 2026, an event park officials called extraordinary given twins occur in under 1% of births. In Nigeria, women's collectives near the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary have halted illegal timber deals and stepped up patrols after concluding, in one leader's words, that the men had failed to stop the threats.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.