Mountain Gorillas of the Virungas

Mountain Gorillas of the Virungas
Kelly J. Stewart, Pascale Sicotte, Martha M. Robbins

Seminar Introduction

[gorilla]
Alexander H. Harcourt
For the past three decades the mountain gorillas of the Karisoke Research Center have been the subjects of many studies of their behavior and ecology. These studies have made significant contributions to models of comparative primate behavioral ecology. Mountain gorillas have also become the focus of intense conservation efforts which have become a model for conservation programs elsewhere.

In this seminar, Kelly J. Stewart, Pascale Sicotte and Martha M. Robbins, who have all in their time carried out field research at Karisoke, chronicle the dramatic story of the center and its gorilla subjects. Founded by Dian Fossey in the late 1960s, Karisoke became one of the most successful primate study sites in the world in the 1970s, although its subjects were threatened by human incursion into their territories and the activities of poachers. Fossey introduced conservation measures that appeared to work, but she was tragically murdered in 1984. Research and conservation activities continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s but the war in Rwanda in the mid to late 1990s resulted in the destruction of the Center and the death of many of its staff. Despite major setbacks, the progress that has been made in the study of gorilla behavior and ecology, and the raising of public awareness about conservation issues, have ensured that both the research and the conservation work will continue in the future.

Learning Objectives

Describe the taxonomy of gorillas and analyse the debates that surround their current classification.
Explain the contribution that Dian Fossey made to the study and conservation of gorillas.
Chart how the understanding of gorilla ecology and behavior has changed and grown over the last four decades.
Describe how the war in Rwanda affected the Karisoke Research Center.

Sessions

Session 1	The Intellectual and Ecological Settings
Session 2	The 1970s
Session 3	The Early 1980s
Session 4	The Late 1980s and Early 1990s
Session 5	The Late 1990s and the Present
Contributors

Credits

This seminar is extracted from Chapter One of Mountain Gorillas: Three Decades of Research at Karisoke, by Martha M. Robbins, Pascale Sicotte and Kelly J. Stewart. Copyright Cambridge University Press.

For the past three decades the mountain gorillas of Karisoke Research Center have been the subject of many studies focusing on their behavior and ecology. Long-term observations on known individuals, from birth to death, as well as social data within and between groups have led to an understanding of many aspects of the social systems of gorillas. The findings have made significant contributions to models of comparative primate behavioral ecology. Mountain gorillas have also been the focus of intense conservation efforts, which have become a model for conservation programs elsewhere. While most of what we know about the genus Gorilla is based on mountain gorillas, data on the other two recognized subspecies have increased over the past 20 years. This book highlights and summarizes some of the behavioral, ecological, and conservation work on mountain gorillas, and makes comparisons with findings from other study sites. Aimed at graduate students and researchers in primatology and behavioral ecology, it will also appeal to all those interested in gorilla conservation, and represents the most up-to-date and diverse collection of information available on this endangered ape.

Mountain Gorillas: Three Decades of Research at Karisoke
Martha M. Robbins, Pascale Sicotte and Kelly J. Stewart
Hardback (2001)

Technical Requirements

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