Research on the Mt. Tshiabirimu Grauer's gorillas, Toshiba donates a portable ultrasound unit and Uganda PREDICT team is trapping bats outside of Bwindi this month.

Saving a Species One Gorilla at a Time

In This Issue

Docs Get Samples from Mt. Tshiabirimu Gorilla, Plans for Complete Genome Analysis Underway

Toshiba Donates a Portable Ultrasound Unit

An Evening with Uganda's PREDICT Team

Docs Attend Annual PREDICT Meeting in Rome

Three New Infants in Virunga Massif Population

Dr. Kirsten Gilardi to Speak at Art Exhibition

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Gorilla Doctors' veterinary team is dedicated to saving mountain and Grauer's gorilla lives through hands-on medical care. Gorilla Doctors helps gorillas by monitoring their health, providing direct care to ill and injured gorillas, and by reducing the threat of human disease transmission.

Gorilla Doctors is a project of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project and the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center.

Research has proven that by intervening to save sick and injured mountain gorillas, Gorilla Doctors has played a vital role in the population's dramatic increase over the last 10 years.

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Gorilla Doctors News March 2013

An exciting new genetic study is being conducted on the Mt. Tshiabirimu gorillas in eastern DRC after Drs. Mike, Eddy and Martin traveled to the remote and secluded forest to collect samples from this tiny population of gorillas. Also this month, Gorilla Doctors traveled to Rome, Italy for a worldwide PREDICT meeting to discuss progress and planning for continued sampling of wildlife in places where there is intense human-wildlife interaction in order to better understand the movement of pathogens from wildlife to people. We are happy to report as well that there were three new healthy infants born in the Virunga Massif population this month!

Docs Get Blood Samples from Mt. Tshiabirimu Gorilla, Plans for Complete Genome Analysis

An isolated population of gorillas on Mt. Tshiabirimu in the DR Congo has dwindled to one third of it's original size within the last decade. Now down to just six individuals surviving in two separate groups, this tiny population has only two adult females left - and their future remains uncertain. Drs. Mike, Eddy and Martin recently traveled to Mt. Tshiabirimu to immobilize a blackback to obtain blood samples, from which the animal's genome will be sequenced to confirm that the Mt. Tshiabirium gorillas are indeed Grauer's gorillas, as everyone suspects. Read more on the Gorilla Doctors blog.

Toshiba Donates Portable Ultrasound Unit

A generous donation of a Viamo Portable Ultrasound Unit manufactured by Toshiba has greatly advanced the Gorilla Doctors' ability to diagnose and treat health problems in wild gorillas. The unit's lightweight and small size make it ideal for assessing injured and ill wild gorillas in the field, where portability and battery-operation is a necessity. Read more.

An Evening with Uganda's PREDICT Team

Gorilla Doctors' PREDICT teams are currently catching wild bats to collect samples to test for potentially emerging zoonotic diseases. Drs. Bernard and Rachel set up mist nets in the Ugandan countryside around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park this month and have collected hundreds of samples for future testing. Read More

Docs Attend Annual PREDICT Meeting in Rome

Drs. Kirsten Gilardi and Mike Cranfield, along with Drs. Julius Nziza and Benard Ssebide traveled to Rome, Italy for a worldwide meeting of the USAID Emerging Pandemic Threats PREDICT project. PREDICT is led by the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, and is implemented in Uganda and Rwanda by Gorilla Doctors. PREDICT staff from 20 countries met to discuss progress and plans for collecting samples from primates, bats and rodents in areas where there is intense human-wildlife interaction.

Three New Infants in Virunga Massif Population

Gorilla Doctors is thrilled to report that there have been three births in the Virunga Massif mountain gorilla population this month! The first baby was born to Isabukuru group's female Muntu in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Shortly thereafter, elderly adult female Gato, of Humba group in Virunga National Park (DRC) gave birth to a new infant too. Over the last weekend in March, female Umutungo of Sabyinyo group in Volcanoes National Park also gave birth . We do not yet know the sex of the infants (it is difficult to tell when they are so tiny and the mothers hold them very close), but Gorilla Doctors will be working with park personnel to monitor= their growth and development, so we hope to find out soon!

Dr. Kirsten Gilardi to Speak at Art Exhibition

Gorilla Doctors Co-Director Dr. Kirsten Gilardi will give a talk about "Hope for Endangered Animals" and her work with Gorilla Doctors on May 18 at the Pence Gallery in Davis, CA. Artist Lisa Reinertson will be exhibiting her incredible sculptures from April 26 - June 14 at Pence Gallery and Reinertson will be donating a portion of her proceeds from sales of her artwork to Gorilla Doctors! If you are in the area, don't miss it! For more info, click here.