High in the treetops of Kahuzi Biega National Park, the worlds largest primate takes his family out for dinner with a view. This unforgettable clip from 2015 is your 15th daily #BrightenYourDay video from the depths of my hard-drive.
#Chimanuka is the biggest known #silverback male of the largest gorilla sub-species - #GrauersGorilla or #EasternLowland #Gorilla, found only in eastern DRC - and yet despite his bulk he is a skilful tree-climber, as long as there is a reward at the top. On this occasion, he and his family were harvesting a delicious meal of fruit. He stays on the thickest branch at this height, overhanging a steep slope, while his females and young clamber around smaller branches to collect fruit beyond the reach of the Boss.
Eastern Lowland Gorillas are #CriticallyEndangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, having seen their population crash by nearly 80 per cent since the late 1990s to around 3,800 individuals. Kahuzi-Biega is one of their main strongholds but the brave ICCN rangers who protect them face poachers, illegal miners and loggers, armed militias and now - since March 2020 - the risk of #Covid19 reaching them. Tourist visits to all apes have now been suspended as a precaution because apes share 96-99% of their DNA with us and so are susceptible to human diseases. This means that the conservation work is more than ever dependent on NGO partners such as Wildlife Conservation Society, Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, The Gorilla Organization, Born Free Foundation, Gorilla Doctors, Pole Pole Foundation, Strong Roots, Primate Expertise, OBJECTIF BROUSSE and Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe e.V.