Mountains Gorillas now “endangered” instead of “critically endangered”

Orphia Nay · 8th November 2019, 11:34 AM

Before she died in 1985, Dian Fossey predicted the species could go extinct by 2000.

Numbers have risen from 680 a decade ago to just over 1,000 today

“[The] Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature [has] changed the status of mountain gorillas from “critically endangered” to “endangered,” an improved if still-fragile designation, reflecting new survey data.

“It wouldn’t have happened without an intervention some biologists call “extreme conservation,” which has entailed monitoring every single gorilla in the rainforest, periodically giving them veterinary care — to clean infected wounds, for instance — and funding forest protection by sending money into communities that might otherwise resent not being able to convert the woods into cropland.”

https://apnews.com/71df4e97bcba43769bcaaa7c125e2cec

Nice article includes reporting about funding, tourism, local jobs, veterinary care.

Orphia Nay · 8th November 2019, 11:41 AM

I think the topic of discussion could be to highlight how multiple strategies and genres of knowledge create environmental, economic, and social change.

To raise the tension it might be worth mentioning that I saw this story from AP first thing on Facebook posted by Leonardo di Caprio (or by a social media admin of his page).

Galaxie · 8th November 2019, 03:50 PM

Well I'll be a ~~monkey's~~ ape's uncle...good news for a change

cullennz · 8th November 2019, 05:36 PM

She was an odd unit, old Fossey.

Big ups for the love of the animals, but the rest was a bit nutty.

Silly Green Monkey · 8th November 2019, 09:15 PM

Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death?

Orphia Nay · 9th November 2019, 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by cullennz

She was an odd unit, old Fossey.

Big ups for the love of the animals, but the rest was a bit nutty.

I think I've read that Fossey said some superstitious things that later caused harm, but I can't recall what. Also might be conflating things with Rachel Carson. I think one was against GMOs (and used the anti-GMOer's traditional Argument from Ignorance), and the other was against chemicals and particularly DDT, and the reduction of the use of DDT in areas saw increases in deaths from malaria outbreaks where malaria had been eradicated.

I can't imagine what you would think was nutty in the article about Gorilla numbers increasing.

rockinkt · 9th November 2019, 04:46 AM

Originally Posted by Orphia Nay

I think I've read that Fossey said some superstitious things that later caused harm, but I can't recall what. Also might be conflating things with Rachel Carson. I think one was against GMOs (and used the anti-GMOer's traditional Argument from Ignorance), and the other was against chemicals and particularly DDT, and the reduction of the use of DDT in areas saw increases in deaths from malaria outbreaks where malaria had been eradicated.

I can't imagine what you would think was nutty in the article about Gorilla numbers increasing.

I think cullennz was applauding Fossey's gorilla preservation work but was also pointing out that Fossey was a violent racist alcoholic. She allegedly beat a poacher's testicles with stinging nettles and also kidnapped a local child for a time. In other words - she got along better with gorillas than she did with her fellow humans. That would be considered by most people as being "nutty".

shemp · 9th November 2019, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Silly Green Monkey

Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death?

Trump certainly doesn't.

William Parcher · 9th November 2019, 04:49 PM

The researchers need to identify the buck-toothed hick gorillas and prevent them from breeding. If they don't do that it's going to be trailers and dirt track racing up on the mountain.

Skeptical Greg · 9th November 2019, 05:21 PM

Roboramma · 9th November 2019, 08:49 PM

Very very good news. Every species is a treasure of the natural world, but as one of our closest relatives, with complex emotional lives, the extinction of Mountain Gorillas would be a particular tragedy, and they came so close.

They aren't out of the woods yet, but it's good to see that the situation has been improving due to the hard work of conservationists.

Orphia Nay · 9th November 2019, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by Silly Green Monkey

Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death?

I see what you did there.

Orphia Nay · 9th November 2019, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by rockinkt

I think cullennz was applauding Fossey's gorilla preservation work but was also pointing out that Fossey was a violent racist alcoholic. She allegedly beat a poacher's testicles with stinging nettles and also kidnapped a local child for a time. In other words - she got along better with gorillas than she did with her fellow humans. That would be considered by most people as being "nutty".

Ah, yep, thanks, looking back it doesn't appear to be a comment on the article.

It was a good article, and I was hoping he'd read it.

angrysoba · 10th November 2019, 06:55 AM

Originally Posted by Roboramma

They aren't out of the woods yet,

I hope not. Isn't that their natural habitat?

8th November 2019, 11:34 AM	#1
Orphia Nay Penguilicious Spodmaster. Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables). Posts: 38,593	Mountains Gorillas now “endangered” instead of “critically endangered” Before she died in 1985, Dian Fossey predicted the species could go extinct by 2000. Numbers have risen from 680 a decade ago to just over 1,000 today “[The] Switzerland-based International Union for Conservation of Nature [has] changed the status of mountain gorillas from “critically endangered” to “endangered,” an improved if still-fragile designation, reflecting new survey data. “It wouldn’t have happened without an intervention some biologists call “extreme conservation,” which has entailed monitoring every single gorilla in the rainforest, periodically giving them veterinary care — to clean infected wounds, for instance — and funding forest protection by sending money into communities that might otherwise resent not being able to convert the woods into cropland.” https://apnews.com/71df4e97bcba43769bcaaa7c125e2cec Nice article includes reporting about funding, tourism, local jobs, veterinary care.
	__________________ "We stigmatize and send to the margins people who trigger in us the feelings we want to avoid" - Melinda Gates, "The Moment of Lift".

8th November 2019, 11:41 AM	#2
Orphia Nay Penguilicious Spodmaster. Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables). Posts: 38,593	I think the topic of discussion could be to highlight how multiple strategies and genres of knowledge create environmental, economic, and social change. To raise the tension it might be worth mentioning that I saw this story from AP first thing on Facebook posted by Leonardo di Caprio (or by a social media admin of his page).
	__________________ "We stigmatize and send to the margins people who trigger in us the feelings we want to avoid" - Melinda Gates, "The Moment of Lift".

8th November 2019, 05:36 PM	#4
cullennz Suspended Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 19,697	She was an odd unit, old Fossey. Big ups for the love of the animals, but the rest was a bit nutty.
cullennz Suspended Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 19,697

8th November 2019, 09:15 PM	#5
Silly Green Monkey Cowardly Lurking in the Shadows of Greatness Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Arizona Posts: 5,189	Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death?
	__________________ Normal is just a stereotype.

9th November 2019, 02:15 AM	#6
Orphia Nay Penguilicious Spodmaster. Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables). Posts: 38,593	Originally Posted by cullennz She was an odd unit, old Fossey. Big ups for the love of the animals, but the rest was a bit nutty. I think I've read that Fossey said some superstitious things that later caused harm, but I can't recall what. Also might be conflating things with Rachel Carson. I think one was against GMOs (and used the anti-GMOer's traditional Argument from Ignorance), and the other was against chemicals and particularly DDT, and the reduction of the use of DDT in areas saw increases in deaths from malaria outbreaks where malaria had been eradicated. I can't imagine what you would think was nutty in the article about Gorilla numbers increasing.
	__________________ "We stigmatize and send to the margins people who trigger in us the feelings we want to avoid" - Melinda Gates, "The Moment of Lift".

8th November 2019, 03:50 PM	#3
Galaxie Muse Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 731	Well I'll be a ~~monkey's~~ ape's uncle...good news for a change

9th November 2019, 04:46 AM	#7
rockinkt Master Poster Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 2,037	Originally Posted by Orphia Nay I think I've read that Fossey said some superstitious things that later caused harm, but I can't recall what. Also might be conflating things with Rachel Carson. I think one was against GMOs (and used the anti-GMOer's traditional Argument from Ignorance), and the other was against chemicals and particularly DDT, and the reduction of the use of DDT in areas saw increases in deaths from malaria outbreaks where malaria had been eradicated. I can't imagine what you would think was nutty in the article about Gorilla numbers increasing. I think cullennz was applauding Fossey's gorilla preservation work but was also pointing out that Fossey was a violent racist alcoholic. She allegedly beat a poacher's testicles with stinging nettles and also kidnapped a local child for a time. In other words - she got along better with gorillas than she did with her fellow humans. That would be considered by most people as being "nutty".
rockinkt Master Poster Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 2,037	__________________ "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." *Steve Earle* "I've met Bob Dylan's bodyguards and if Steve Earle thinks he can stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table, he's sadly mistaken." *Townes Van Zandt* Last edited by rockinkt; 9th November 2019 at 04:49 AM.

9th November 2019, 07:50 AM	#8
shemp a flimsy character...perfidious and despised Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: People's Democratic Republic of Planet X Posts: 39,662	Originally Posted by Silly Green Monkey Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death? Trump certainly doesn't.
	__________________ If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set. "...just as a magnet attracts iron filings, ~~Trump~~ shemp attracts, and is attracted to, louts." - George Will "[shemp is] a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality." - Shakespeare

9th November 2019, 04:49 PM	#9
William Parcher Show me the monkey! Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 25,729	The researchers need to identify the buck-toothed hick gorillas and prevent them from breeding. If they don't do that it's going to be trailers and dirt track racing up on the mountain.
	__________________ Bigfoot believers and Bigfoot skeptics are both plumb crazy. Each spends more than one minute per year thinking about Bigfoot.

9th November 2019, 05:21 PM	#10
Skeptical Greg Agave Wine Connoisseur Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Just past ' Resume Speed ' . Posts: 16,841
	__________________ " The main problem I have with the idea of heaven, is the thought of spending eternity with most of the people who claim to be going there. "

9th November 2019, 08:49 PM	#11
Roboramma Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Shanghai Posts: 14,147	Very very good news. Every species is a treasure of the natural world, but as one of our closest relatives, with complex emotional lives, the extinction of Mountain Gorillas would be a particular tragedy, and they came so close. They aren't out of the woods yet, but it's good to see that the situation has been improving due to the hard work of conservationists.
	__________________ "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." Isaac Asimov

9th November 2019, 11:10 PM	#12
Orphia Nay Penguilicious Spodmaster. Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables). Posts: 38,593	Originally Posted by Silly Green Monkey Who knew access to healthcare was so instrumental in preventing needless death? I see what you did there.
	__________________ "We stigmatize and send to the margins people who trigger in us the feelings we want to avoid" - Melinda Gates, "The Moment of Lift".

9th November 2019, 11:13 PM	#13
Orphia Nay Penguilicious Spodmaster. Tagger Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ponylandistan Presidential Palace (above the Spods' stables). Posts: 38,593	Originally Posted by rockinkt I think cullennz was applauding Fossey's gorilla preservation work but was also pointing out that Fossey was a violent racist alcoholic. She allegedly beat a poacher's testicles with stinging nettles and also kidnapped a local child for a time. In other words - she got along better with gorillas than she did with her fellow humans. That would be considered by most people as being "nutty". Ah, yep, thanks, looking back it doesn't appear to be a comment on the article. It was a good article, and I was hoping he'd read it.
	__________________ "We stigmatize and send to the margins people who trigger in us the feelings we want to avoid" - Melinda Gates, "The Moment of Lift".

10th November 2019, 06:55 AM	#14
angrysoba Philosophile Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Osaka, Japan Posts: 28,999	Originally Posted by Roboramma They aren't out of the woods yet, I hope not. Isn't that their natural habitat?
	__________________ "The thief and the murderer follow nature just as much as the philanthropist. Cosmic evolution may teach us how the good and the evil tendencies of man may have come about; but, in itself, it is incompetent to furnish any better reason why what we call good is preferable to what we call evil than we had before." "Evolution and Ethics" T.H. Huxley (1893)