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The article reports on the birth of a new born gorilla seen in the Lefini Reserve, Republic of Congo on September 21, 2006. The birth of the gorilla was only the second time in more that 50 years. The mother of the new bord gorilla is a 9 year-old gorilla released into the area in 2004 earlier along with eight others. The release was the second in a conservation program to reintroduce the Endangered western gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla to the Lefini Reserve, where the species had been extirpated in the early part of the 20th century.

Postrelease monitoring is an important aspect of reintroduction projects, one outcome of which is to allow an assessment of the initial success of the reintroduction, often measured by quantifying survival and reproduction rates. In long-lived species, accurate estimations of demographic parameters are difficult to obtain, and therefore assessment of reintroduction success in such species is challenging. To assess the initial success of a reintroduction program for the long-lived, slow-reproducing, and critically endangered western lowland gorilla Gorilla gorilla gorilla, we analyzed postrelease monitoring data from 2 reintroduced populations, in the Batéké Plateau region of the Republics of Congo and Gabon, to quantify several demographic parameters, and compared our results with published data on wild gorilla populations. Annual survival rate of the 51 released gorillas was 97.4%, 9 females gave birth to 11 infants at an annual birth rate of 0.196 births per adult female, and first-year survival of the infants was 81.8%. Annual birth rate within the reintroduced populations is not significantly different from that given for wild western gorilla populations, and other demographic parameters fall within the range of published data for wild gorilla populations. Our analysis illustrates that the reintroduction program has been successful in terms of the initial measures of postrelease survival and reproduction, and our quantitative data should facilitate the development of a population model that can predict the probability of population persistence and therefore provide an indication of longer-term reintroduction success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring populations in areas of ecological transition is crucial to understanding species distributions, but also a critical conservation tool. We used camera trapping to investigate the forest mammal community in the Batéké Plateau National Park (BPNP) in Gabon, a transitional landscape that experiences severe poaching. We compiled a species inventory, investigated group sizes and activity patterns of observed species, and conducted an initial test to evaluate whether ecological gradients within this landscape influence species occurrence. Based on 6612 images and videos recorded at 40 locations during 5,902 camera days, we identified 31 mammal species, including eight classified as threatened according to the IUCN. We detected lion (Panthera leo, Linnaeus), which was thought to be extinct in Gabon, and mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx, Linnaeus), for which BPNP was thought to be outside of their natural range. Our findings suggest that BPNP supports a low species richness compared to more forested protected areas. We found no changes in species composition of the forest mammal community with increasing distance from the continuous Gabonese rainforest, but a potential decrease in abundance for some species. Continued survey efforts need to be combined with detailed ecological data collection and effective law enforcement in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rehabilitation of animals followed by reintroduction into the wild can benefit conservation by supplementing depleted wild populations or reintroducing a species in an area where it has been extirpated or become extinct. The western lowland gorilla (WLG, Gorilla g. gorilla) is persistently poached; infants are often illegally traded and used as pets. Some are confiscated and rehabilitated, then kept in sanctuaries or reintroduced into the wild. Prior to reintroduction, the ability of the orphans to survive independently in their environment needs to be assessed. Here, we performed a multivariate analysis, including diet composition, activity-budget, and pattern of strata using of a group of five juvenile WLG in the process of rehabilitation and distinguished three sub-periods of ecological significance: the high furgivory period, the Dialium fruits consumption period, and the high folivory period. The consequences of these variations on their well-being (play behaviour) and the group cohesion (spatial proximity and social interactions) were examined. Like wild WLGs, diets shifted seasonally from frugivorous to folivorous, while the same staple foods were consumed and large amounts of Dialium fruits were seasonally gathered high in trees. When succulent fruit intake was the highest, thus providing high energy from sugar, juveniles spent less time feeding, more time playing and group cohesion was the highest. Conversely, the cohesion decreased with increasing folivory, individuals spent more time feeding and less time playing together. Nonetheless, the group cohesion also decreased after the death of one highly social, wild-born orphan. This may underscore the importance of skilled individuals in the cohesion and well-being of the entire group and, ultimately, to rehabilitation success. This study evaluates the rehabilitation success with regards to the methods used and highlights the need to consider a set of individual and environmental factors for enhancing rehabilitation while preserving the local biodiversity and individual well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]