Fahlo The Traverse Bracelet Gorilla

Per our partners at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the gorillas are tracked to ensure their ongoing protection and  to better understand their behaviour, ecology, genetic diversity, and habitat requirements—all of which is essential to developing effective conservation strategies. Their holistic approach is founded on four key pillars: daily gorilla protection, scientific research, training conservationists in Africa, and helping local communities to ensure the future of gorilla conservation for generations to come. The Fossey Fund protects two of the four gorilla subspecies: the critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the endangered mountain gorillas in the Virunga mountains of Rwanda. 

The two subspecies tracked by the Fossey Fund—mountain gorillas and Grauer’s gorillas—are endangered and critically endangered, respectively. A population of just over 1,000 mountain gorillas remains, while the Grauer’s gorillas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have about 6,800 remaining – having lost 60% of their population in recent decades.

One famous example is the silverback Cantsbee, who was known to “babysit” five or six infants while their mothers were foraging. Research has also shown that blackback (immature) males who spend more time playing with infants and juveniles are more likely to sire offspring once they become silverbacks.