Giant panda no longer endangered, but Eastern Gorillas are ‘critically endangered’

The newest version of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (ICUN) Red List was released this week, bringing with it good news for the global population of Giant Pandas and bad news for the Eastern Gorillas that live throughout parts of Africa.

First, the good news: according to CNN and USA Today, the number of Giants Pandas living in China have increased from 1,596 to 1,864 over the last decade – an increase of 17% that is being credited to an increase in habitat and the creation of a panda reserve system during the 1990s.

The Panda’s rebound has led the IUCN to remove the creature from its list of endangered species and upgrade it to “vulnerable,” and while they are currently making a recovery, they still face the loss of up to one-third of their bamboo habitat due to climate change, conservationists warn.

“The Chinese have done a great job in investing in Panda habitats, expanding and setting up new reserves,” Ginette Hemley, senior vice-president for wildlife conservation at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said in an interview with BBC News. “They are a wonderful example of what can happen when a government is committed to conservation.”

“Knowing that the Panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats,”  Marco Lambertini, the Director General of the WWF, added in a statement. “The recovery of the Panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity.”

Eastern Gorilla the fourth great ape to become critically endangered

Unfortunately, the new report also brought bad news for the Eastern Gorilla: the world’s largest living primate has experienced a 70% decline in its population over the past two decades because of hunting and civil wars in the region of Africa that it calls home, media reports indicate.

The Gorillas, which live in the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, are now believed to number less than 5,000 globally, and as a result, have been downgraded from “endangered” to “critically endangered” by the conservation group.

One of the subspecies that comprise the Eastern Gorilla population, Grauer’s Gorilla, has seen its population numbers plummet 77%, from 16,900 individuals to 3,800, from 1994 through 2015, according to CNN. The second subspecies, the Mountain Gorilla, is actually on the rebound, with its population numbers actually increasing to 880, the ICUN reported in a press release.

“To see the Eastern Gorilla – one of our closest cousins – slide towards extinction is truly distressing,” said IUCN Director General Inger Andersen. “We live in a time of tremendous change and each IUCN Red List update makes us realize just how quickly the global extinction crisis is escalating. Conservation action does work and we have increasing evidence of it. It is our responsibility to enhance our efforts to turn the tide and protect the future of our planet.”

The addition of the Eastern Gorilla population to the critically endangered list means that four of the six great apes in the world are now listed as critically endangered, the organization said. They join the Western Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan as members of that group, while the remaining two, the Chimpanzee and Bonobo, are currently listed as endangered.

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Image credit: Thinkstock

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