The Wonderful World of Words

Check out the awesome winning gorilla essays completed by team 8A students! They wrote about the importance of the mountain gorillas, how they are unique and special, and why we should make an effort to save them! Thank you to Dean Jacobs for sharing his experiences in Rwanda with our team and for teaching us how to coexist with animals in our world! We wish Dean the best of luck in his most recent expedition to South America and look forward to "talking" with him through his blog to learn about this continent and its rainforests!

There are four types of gorillas in the world, one being the Western lowland Gorilla which is the most populated with a population of 150,000 plus. The Cross River Gorilla is the rarest with only 200 left in the world. The Grauers, which live in the Congo, have only a population of 5000. Then we are brought to the Mountain Gorilla, there are only 782 left in the world and none in zoos. These Mountain gorillas live in Uganda, Congo, and Rwanda. The problem is all of these places are facing major poverty and are forced to poach the gorillas to feed their families and to get money. Rwanda, Africa is where the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is located. The Virunga Mountains of Rwanda are a giant volcanic chain in which these gorillas live. Rwanda is 1/7th the size of Nebraska but it holds more than 10 million people that only make 2.50 cents a day. Rwanda had a mass genocide in 1994 where 1 million people were killed in 100 days. There is still a civil war going on in Rwanda which is also a danger to many civilians and the gorillas.

Some people may ask why save the gorillas here is why. Gorillas are a “National Treasure” they are knuckle walkers, they are much like humans they average 6 feet tall, and weigh from 450 to 500lbs. The Alpha males have silver hairs on their back that is why we call them “silverbacks.” Gorillas typically can live 35 years in the wild. The “Black backs” are adolescent males, Rogue males will kill all babies if they dethrone the Alpha male and become the new Alpha male. They live in families of any amount of gorillas from 3-45. They display or “Speak” with each other by beating their chests, puffing their lips, and making sounds, Gorillas have over 25 vocalizations to “Speak” with each other. Babies are born after 8.5 months and weigh about 4lbs. at birth 40% don’t survive the first year, or make it to adulthood. They groom each other’s hair as a way to bond and grow friendship. Gorillas sleep in nests, they don’t ever sleep in the same nest twice, they make a new one every night. They eat 50lbs. of vegetation each day and eat over 200 kinds of plants, they love Nettles and Ants. They like to eat tree bark but farmers get angry at them because the trees die without bark. Every afternoon they take naps and the adolescent gorillas play while their parents sleep. They live in rainforests; because of this they have long fur so that they stay warm and dry. Every gorilla has its own distinctive nose print and handprints like ours that is how the scientists can tell them apart.

1932-1985 Dian Fossey/Anti-poaching, Dian Fossey started the Dian Fossey Organization. Dian Fossey tried to reduce the amount of poaching that was going on. Her efforts were very successful but because they were so successful she had a bounty put on her head and she was murdered. She was buried next to the gorillas she researched. Gorilla orphanage helps the gorillas that are hurt by poachers, and those who lost parents so that they don’t die, Gorillas that lose their parents before the age of 2 will die. Believe it or not baby gorillas are playful just like humans. Dean Jacobs gave them Frisbees but they mostly just chewed them up.

Many people from gorilla foundations are trying to teach the Rwandan people to make money by helping the gorillas not poaching them, they would make money by tourism and habitat protection. The gorillas are a national resource the Rwandan people and they should treat them as a resource. We share 98% of our DNA with the gorillas, they are much like us in many ways. Letting them be killed is like letting our population be murdered. Rwandans only make about $2.50 a day that is definitely not enough to live off of. We as Americans can buy fair trade coffee to help the Rwandans to be paid a fair wage so they can take care of their families without poaching the gorillas. Education can also help these Rwandans live better lives and make more money so they are no longer living in poverty. Dean Jacobs donated a bunch of notebooks to the Rwandan children to help them. People and gorillas can co-exist gorillas don’t have to die and neither do we.

Wasingya -Thank you by Alex S.

Save the Mountain Gorillas

By: Emily G.

Should we make an effort to try and save the Mountain Gorillas? You may ask why I am saying that, it is because I have very deep feelings about saving Mountain Gorillas. They are very beautiful creatures that no one should ever harm those beautiful animals. They have interesting ways of communicating, from open fists pounding on their chests to closed and strange ooze, ahs, and grunts.

Mountain Gorillas are very dangerously low in population. There are four different kinds of mountain gorillas that I learned so much about, the Western Lowland, Cross-River (has never been caught on tape before, National Geographic or anything), Grauers, and simply Mountain Gorillas. They are interesting creatures. Females cannot reproduce while nursing a young gorilla. Young gorillas have to be with their mother for the first two years. Some gorillas lose their mothers before two year mark and Dian Fossey luckily made an orphanage for those who have lost their mothers before they have turned two. Rwanda is where a lot of gorillas live, on the sides of volcanoes even.

Gorillas live to be about 35 years (in the wild). Males are usually bigger in weight and height than a female. Gorillas can grow to be 6 feet tall when they are standing on hind legs. Dominant males have a silver back if they are 12 years or older. Males usually have larger crowns than a female. Males grow to be approximately 450-500 pounds (full grown) and a female about 100 pounds less. Gorillas, just like humans have different finger prints. They also have different noses. 98% of a gorillas DNA is the same as a humans. Poaching is a very big problem for gorillas. They get caught in snares and can be killed, poachers sell gorilla heads and hands on the black market for a large amount of money.

People in Africa are very poor. Some are not so poor, they are somewhat rich. There is a HUGE difference in economy there in Africa. Some are living in poverty while others have a banquet. The people living in poverty only earn $2.50 a day. Children are required to have a notebook just to go to school, if they don’t have one they don’t get to go to school. I have learned so much about how unfortunate people are and how fortunate I am to live in a house, to have heating, cooling, light, running water. In their schools they don’t have desks, running water, light, flooring, walls. All they have is dirt. I am very sorry for not learning about this earlier, and I hope when I do start helping it makes and impact of many of their lives. Please help those in need, it’s the right thing to do.

G is for Gorillas & Giving

By Christy C.

Should we save the last remaining Mountain Gorillas? My opinion is I think we should because gorillas are the same as us. They should not be killed and there are only 782 of them in the whole world! They have the same right as us to live. The gorillas live on the continent of Africa in a country named Rwanda, in the Virunga Mountains on the sides of the dormant volcanoes. Rwanda is 1/7th the size of Nebraska with 10 million people. How should we help the people and the gorillas live together?

There are four types of gorillas: Western lowland estimated about 150,000; Cross-river is the rarest there are only 200 left; The Grauers live in the Congo and there is about 5000; the last one is Mountain gorillas there is 782 but there are none in the zoos. Gorillas can live 35 years in the wild! They make a nest every night but they only sleep in it one time. They even have their own distinctive nose-prints like a hand print. They love to eat nettles, ants, and tree bark, but it makes the farmers get mad at them. The Rogue males will kill the babies if they dethrone the silverback and they become the alpha male. Gorillas can reach up to 6 ft tall, and weigh 450-500lbs! When the parents take a nap the babies just wrestle with each other and play, 40% of these babies won’t make it to adulthood because they will get killed when fighting.

The baby gorillas wander around and get caught in snares, the snares can injure the babies or even kill them. Other ways humans can hurt them are the poachers. Poachers kill the gorillas just to get their meat, hands, and their heads and sell them on the black market for unneeded purposes like using their hands for ash trays, heads for decorations. Dian Fossey researched gorillas and tried to stop the poachers from killing the gorillas. She was assassinated and beheaded, like they would do to the gorillas. She was then buried by her friends the gorillas that she had researched. The gorilla orphanage helps those gorillas that have been hurt by the poachers and that have lost their mothers, so the orphanage tries to help them.

The Rwandan people and the gorillas coexist and they learn from one another. People share 98% of our DNA with the gorillas. The average Rwanda people get payed 2.50/day but that is not enough to live on. You can buy fair trade coffee to help them get paid a fair wage so they can take care of their families and not hunt the gorillas for their meat and money. We would love for you to help save the last of the gorillas. If you want to know more information you can go to Dian Fossey’s website, WASINGYA!

G is for gorilla and giving

By Jordan C.

Most people have never heard of the mountain gorillas. We should save these majestic animals because they are very important to the environment. They are found near Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They live up in the Virunga Mountains and these mountains are up to twelve thousand feet tall in some areas. There are only four types of gorillas left in the world.

The mountain gorillas grow to be up to about six feet tall and weigh around five hundred pounds. The males have silver hair in the middle of their backs. Their life expectancy is about thirty five years, that’s if they aren’t poached. They live in small or large families ranging three to forty five. Their small helpless babies weigh about four pounds and only forty percent of them survive past child hood.

What they do seems simply pointless to us but is necessary for them to survive. They sleep in a nest that they make new every night; they are made out of leaves and branches. They have twenty five different vocalizations to communicate with each other. They eat fifty pounds of vegetation every day. They also just love ants, nettles and also bark , which angers the farmers.

Dian Fossey started an organization to protect the gorillas and she tried decreasing the terrible business of poaching. The poachers killed her so their business could go on. Another way they hurt gorillas is they get caught in snares, snares can take limbs from baby gorillas.

The people of Rwanda live off two dollars and fifty cents a day and there are ten million people there, one down side for that is it is a seventh the size of Nebraska. People are trying to teach them by helping the gorillas instead of poaching them through tourism and habitat protection. You can help the people of Rwanda buy asking your local coffee shop if they use “fair trade coffee”.

Saving the Mountain Gorillas

By: Kenna R.

Why should we save the mountain gorillas in Rwanda? We should save them because there are only 782 mountain gorillas left in the entire world! The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International was founded by Dian Fossey. The research center was called the Karisoke Research Center. It got its name because it was in between two mountains. The Virunga Mountains is where the gorillas are found. This is a volcanic chain of mountains.

Male mountain gorillas are called silverbacks. When they get older the hair on their back turns silver. That is why they are called silverbacks. They can live up to 35 years in the wild. Adolescent males are called black backs. Gorillas live in families from 3-45 in a group. They are called knuckle walkers because they walk on their knuckles. They are 6 feet tall, and weigh about 450 to 500 pounds. Babies are born after 8.5 months and weigh about 4lbs at birth. 40% of the babies do not live. There are four different types of gorillas: the western lowland gorillas with an average population of about 150,000, which is the highest population. The second type are the grauers, they live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the average number left is about 5000. The third type are the mountain gorillas, they don’t keep them in zoos because they are so rare and there are only 782 left in the whole world! The last type is the cross-river gorillas, they are the rarest type of the gorillas and the total amount of these gorillas left is 200.

These gorillas are killed to make money which is really sad. They are poached or they are caught in snares. Dian Fossey started an anti-poaching protest to save the gorillas and then when the protest got really successful poachers put a bounty on her head and killed her, like a gorilla. She was assassinated and beheaded like a gorilla. Her death made poaching a world-wide campaign and actually helped the gorillas more, she was a martyr. Then she was buried next to her friends, the gorillas.

The Rwandan people are taught how to make money by helping the gorillas instead of poaching them. The average Rwandan person makes $2.50 a day which is not enough to live on. Kids couldn’t go to school without a notebook or pen. We share 98% of our DNA with the gorillas. People and gorillas can coexist- learn from each other. Coffee is one of the chief exports of Rwanda. Instead of buying regular coffee, we can buy fair trade coffee and the Rwandan society will be able to make more money a day. Wasingya means thank you in the Rwandan language: Wasingya for reading my paper about the gorillas!

Save the Mountain Gorillas

By Harper Z.

Should we make an effort to protect the last remaining Mountain Gorillas? Most people don’t know this but a small country in Africa called Rwanda is very crowded and people there have barely any money. Just to give you a clue as to how small it’s I/7 the size of Nebraska and has 10 million people living in it. People also don’t know that the boarder is the Virunga Mountains-a volcanic chain-and that in those mountains live a beautiful creature the gorilla. Who would have guessed that there were over 4 types of gorillas like the Western lowland it has the highest population(150,000), the Cross River is so rare that only 200 are known of, Grauers they live in the Congo(a country that shares the mountains with Rwanda), and last the Mountain Gorillas and there are only 782 left.

You need to know that we are more alike with them than you think they share 98% of our DNA and just like us they have different nose prints or in our case finger prints. Since they live in the rainforest they have long hair to keep them warm. To make new friends they try to groom the other, Don’t you find that kind of weird? They have over 25 means of communication and live up to 35 years in the wild. The babies guess what they like to play while mommy’s asleep(I smell trouble!!!) the sad thing is about the babies is if a rouge male comes in to the group he will fight the alpha male-he’s the one with a silverback- and if the rouge over throws him he will kill all babies in the group. Only about 60% of babies make it to adulthood because rouge male will kill them, they can be dropped, and poachers can get them.

Gorillas getting killed was a big problem back then so this woman Dian Fossey started anti-poaching patrols and the poaching decreased then in 1985 she was beheaded by poachers like a gorilla. When Dian Fossey was buried she was buried next to her friends the gorillas and she is the only person who has got this honor. The poachers like to use snares and the problem with that is that the babies get curious and stick their hand in it and they lose limbs. Luckily, there are gorilla orphanages that help them recover and protect them.

A part of the poaching problem is that the Rwandan people only have an income of $2.50 a day so to help get money to buy food for the family they sell gorilla parts on the black market. But they need to treat them like a resource so they can get tourist to pay money to see them. They could also learn from each other and help protect thierr habitat. Education will help future Rwandans make a better living. So, yes we should help save the mountain gorillas.

G is for Gorillas and Giving

Mountain Gorillas are beautiful and as the years go by they become more and more rare. There are four types of gorillas: the Western Lowland Gorilla, Cross River Gorilla, the Grauers, and the mountain gorillas and there are only 782 mountain gorillas left in the whole world. The mountain gorillas live in Rwanda on the Virunga Mountains. When our kids and grandkids grow up they won’t be able to see them if people keep killing them, there’ll only be pictures.

There’s a gorilla that has silvery hair and it’s called a silverback gorilla and the average life span is 35 years; the oldest one lived till she was 42 years old. Males weigh from 450-500 pounds, but the females weigh 100 pounds less (350-400). They eat up to 50 pounds of food a day and over 200 kinds of plants, they love ants. Their hair has to be long so they can keep warm when it’s raining since they live in the rainforest.

40% of gorilla babies don’t live till they’re 1 year old, the mother is pregnant for about 8.5 months. While the mother is nursing she can’t have another baby till she is done nursing, which is when the baby would be about 2 years old. If the baby is ever separated from its mother within the first two years it possibly won’t survive. A lot of babies are caught in a poaching rope called a snare and end up dying; they either get strangled or bleed to death.

Every afternoon they’ll takes naps, during this time the babies play so they don’t get into trouble. They’re just like people, they have a unique nose print so no gorilla has the same nose and we have a unique fingerprint. They have over 25 different vocal patterns and when you see them grooming each other it’s because they’re trying to make friends. We share 98% identical DNA with the gorillas. A troop (group) of gorillas can be anywhere from 3-45. They have to make a different bed every night because they don’t like to sleep in the same place. Please help save them! These are all the reasons why we should help save gorillas.

-Kayla K.

Mountain Gorilla

Should we save the last remaining mountain gorillas? I think we should, because they're an endangered species and they’re also a very cool animal that are similar to humans. There are four different types of gorillas: western lowland, cross river, grauers, and mountain gorilla. There is only 200 cross-river gorillas left, and are rare to find. Mountain gorillas live in rainforests, in a country called Rwanda which is only 1/7 the size of Nebraska.

Each gorilla is like humans in a way that they all have different noses, just like human fingerprints. They all walk on their knuckles, and also can be 6ft tall and weigh up 450-500 pounds. Most gorillas live up to the age of 35 and they like to eat nettles and ants. The alpha males have silver hair on their back, which is why we call them “silverbacks.” The gorillas take naps every day, this is time for the kids to play.

We need to stop poaching. Poaching is where people kill gorillas for different reasons, like cutting their heads off for selling, and their hands for making into ash trays, they also take their meat for food. Dian Fossey tried to stop poaching, she was a martyr to the gorillas, meaning she died for them. People who made money off of poaching were mad at her so they assassinated her and beheaded her like a gorilla. They buried her next to her gorilla friends.

We're trying to teach Rwandan people to make money by helping the gorillas, not by poaching them. The average Rwandan person makes only $2.50 a day. We should buy fair trade coffee to help them get paid enough to take care of their family and not hunt the gorillas for meat and money. Education will help future Rwanda people, and it will make a better living way of life. People and gorillas coexist, they can learn from one another. Help save mountain gorillas!

Bradyn T.

Should we save the Mountain Gorilla’s?

Mountain Gorilla’s are animals that can be up to six ft. tall, and four hundred fifty to five hundred pounds! That’s crazy, their huge but a great species of animals. Their average life span is thirty five years in the wild life. Buts theirs only about seven hundred eighty two Mountain Gorilla’s left, not including any in captivity. Forty percent of the gorilla’s that are born don’t even make it each year. That makes it really hard to reproduce! Especially since the Silver Backs can kill which ever babies they want to, so they can start their own families. If the mother Gorilla doesn’t make it the first two years of the baby’s life and dies, the baby Gorilla will eventually die to. The females are pregnant for 8.5 months and they can’t give birth again while they are still nursing. This also slows down the reproductive process for Mountain Gorilla’s. Life for these Mountain Gorillas’s is rough.

Mountain Gorilla’s live about 12,000 feet up into the mountains of Rwanda Africa. Rwanda is 1/7 the size of Nebraska but has 10 million people to feed and take care of. The mountain Gorilla’s eat up to 50 pounds of vegetation a day, so it’s not like they eat all of Rwanda’s food. They find their vegetation on the sides of the mountains where they live. They get from one place to the other by walking on each other and carrying each other on their backs. They all walk on their knuckles all the time. It doesn’t hurt them to do that, because they are very strong and muscle animals. The silver back Gorilla’s are about 100 pounds larger than the female Gorilla’s. If the gorillas are black on the back, they are still 12 years of age or younger.

Dian Fossey started an organization for the gorillas. She wanted to start decreasing the amount of poaching for them. She didn’t like the idea of how they would kill them for their heads, hands, meat, etc. After a decent amount of time her effort in getting rid of poaching became more successful. This made the people who made a lot of money off poaching very angry. So they decided to assassinate her and behead her just like a gorilla. After this incident the anti-poaching an even bigger success! She became what they call a martyr. As a sort of honor to her they decided to bury her next to all her gorilla friends.

The Rwandan people all live in poverty. They work for an income of about 2.50 an hour, that’s not even close to minimum wage here! 2.50 an hour doesn’t help them very much at all because they have to feed eight to nine maybe ten mouths with that money just to feed all of their family. And that’s what all 10 million people have to do in that town. So what some of the people do there for extra money is poach. They go and kill animals, like gorillas and sell their fur, hands, heads, and everything else they can just to make some extra money. It’s very wrong. If the people in Rwanda even got to hungry and decided to go kill a gorilla for some food, they would. That’s why Dian Fossy started the anti-poaching movement for them. The Mountain Gorilla’s are in serious danger of becoming extinct. 782 are left, none are in the zoos! That means they are all in the wild, anything could happen to them. If Rwanda could just make a little extra money then they wouldn’t have to poach as much and the Gorilla’s wouldn’t be at such a risk. In my opinion, the Mountain Gorilla’s are worth saving.
By Hanna M.

Mountain Gorillas

Should we save the gorillas? YES! I think we should they are such amazing and interesting animals. Who knows maybe in the future they can help us to research diseases. There are a lot of interesting facts about these amazing animals.

Mountain gorillas live in Uganda, Congo , and Rwanda. Titus was one of the most documented gorilla he even got a movie made about him. Here are some interesting facts about mountain gorillas..

• Gorillas are knuckle walkers, much like humans, average 6 ft. tall,450 to 5oo lbs.

• Alpha males have a silver hairs on their backs “silver backs”

• Can live 35 years in the wild

• Adolescent males are called black backs

• They sleep in nests that they make new each night out of leaves and branches

• They have over 25 vocalizations to communicate

• They eat 50 lbs. of vegetation each day/ eat over 200 kinds of plants

• Babies are born after 8.5 months and weigh about 4 lbs. at birth 40% of them don’t make it

As you may have read they are very interesting. There is so many things to learn about them. Man kind are very dangerous to these animals.

Diane Fossey started the Diane Fossey organization. She tried to decrease poaching. Her efforts became successful and so made powerful people mad who were making money off of the poaching ,they put out a bounty on her head to kill her. She eas assassinated and beheaded, like a gorilla. Her death made poaching a world wide campaign and actually helped the gorillas more. She was buried next to her friends, the gorillas. Snares are used by poachers and can hurt babies when they reach into holes because they are curious they can loose a limb for this. Gorillas orphanage helps those hurt by poachers, and those who lose their mothers. If gorillas lose their mothers before the age of two they will die, the orphanage tries to help them. One f the reasons that people hunt gorillas is because they are poor.

Rwanda people are being taught to make money by helping the gorillas instead of poaching them, through tourism and habitat protection. The average Rwanda makes only $2.50/day, it isn’t enough to live off. Education will help give an opportunity to future Rwandans and they can make a better living this way. I think that we need to help them so they have enough money to support their families and not have to hunt gorillas.

By:Leslie V.P

G is for gorilla and for giving.

Morgan H.

Should we make an effort to protect the last remaining Mountain Gorilla’s? Rwanda is one seventh the size of Nebraska, and has 10 million people. The average income is $2.50 a day. There are four different types of gorillas, western low land, cross river, gravers, and mountain gorillas. Titus was the most documented gorilla; he even had a movie made after him.

The gorillas sleep in nests at night, and they make a new nest every night. They use over twenty five different vocalizations to communicate. The male gorillas can be up to six feet when their standing and weigh four hundred fifty to five hundred pounds, the females are usually about a hundred less then that. The hairs on male’s backs are called silverbacks, when their 12+ is typically the age when they get the silver hair. The Mothers are pregnant for eight and a half months, and they nurse the baby for two years. Forty percent of babies don’t make it to year one.

Rwanda doesn’t have a lot of money to help save the gorillas since there in poverty. Also the gorillas eat the bark off trees that farmers planted, causing the farmers to lose crop money. Dian Fossey tried to decrease poaching, and her efforts became successful, which made powerful people who were making money off the poaching mad, so they put a bounty on her head to kill her. Her death made poaching a world-wide campaign and actually helped the gorillas. The snares used by poachers, can hurt the babies when they reach into the holes, because they are curious so they can end up losing a limb. Gorilla orphanages help those hurt by poachers, and those who lose their mother. If a gorilla loses it mother before the age of two they will die.

There are some ways you can help; you can get fifty dollars to adopt a baby gorilla. You can drink fair trade coffee, and if they don’t sell it, you can try to persuade them to get it. The people of Rwandan can try to teach them to make money by helping the gorillas instead of poaching them through tourism and habitat protection. Education will help give opportunity to future Rwandans and they can make a better living this way. Well with all this information I personally think that yes we should make an effort to protect the last remaining mountain gorillas.

G is for gorilla and giving! We NEED to save the mountain gorillas! Please help! This is all held in Rwanda. It’s 1/7th the size of Nebraska and houses 10 million people! In Rwanda, in Virunga Mountains, live the mountain gorilla, these mountains are a volcanic chain. They live on the sides of the mountains, up to 12, 000 feet high!

These gorillas eat about 50 lbs. of vegetation each day and eat over 200 kinds of plants. They correspond in 25 vocalizations. They live in rainforests so the fur is long to keep them warm and dry. Of course the kid gorillas like to play! They do this when the parents are taking naps. Adolescent males are called blackbacks. Rogue males will kill all babies if they dethrone the silverback and become the alpha male. Gorillas live in families of anywhere from 3 to 45 gorillas. They slumber in nests that they make new each night out of leaves and branches, they also never sleep in it more than one time. Gorillas also have their own distinctive noseprint, like our handprints.

Diane Fossey is a lady that went against poaching. Poaching is illegal killing of gorillas for their heads, hands, or meat. But Diane Fossey was assassinated and beheaded like a gorilla. She was buried by the gorillas. However her efforts became thriving and so made powerful people mad who were making money off of the poaching, they put a bounty on her head to kill her. Snares are used by poachers and can hurt the babies when they reach into the holes because they are curious. They can lose a limb from this. Diane Fossey was an important person to the gorillas and maybe we can continue her work.

Rwandan people live a tough life. Average Rwandan people make about $2.50 a day, that is NOT enough to live on. We share 98% of our DNA with gorillas, much like us. People and gorillas can coexist, they can learn from one another. We could buy fair trade coffee to help them be paid a fair wage so they can take care of their families and NOT HUNT the gorillas for meat and money. Education will help give opportunity to future Rwandans and they can make a better living this way. Dean Jacob donated notebooks and pens to the kids, they were very thankful. Oh and that’s another thing “Wasingya” means thank you.

So with this said, we would really appreciate your helping in saving the mountain gorillas. Wasingya! We could really make a change!

By Savannah B.

Save The Mountain Gorillas!!

Rwanda is 1/7 the size of Nebraska and houses 10 million people! In Rwanda, in the Virunga Mountains, lives the Mountain Gorilla. These mountains are a volcanic chain. There are 4 different types of gorillas. One type is the Western Lowland. They have the highest population of 150,000. The Cross-River gorilla is the rarest gorilla living. There are only 200 left in the world. The Grauers live in the Congo and there are 5,000 left in the world. The last gorilla is the Mountain Gorilla with a population of 782 left in the world. There are also none in the zoos. These gorillas are very cool to study.

All gorillas are knuckle walkers. They average 6 feet tall. Alpha males have silver hairs on their back. “Silverbacks” is their nickname. Gorillas can live up to 35 years. Adolescent males are called “Blackbacks.” Rogue males will kill all babies if they dethrone the silverback and become the alpha male. They have gorilla families anywhere from 3-45 gorillas. They show anger by beating their chest with fists. Gorillas show happiness by beating their chest with an open palm. Babies are born after 8.5 months and weigh about 4lbs. at birth. Many, 40% die in the first year. Gorillas groom each other, that is how they build relationships. Gorillas sleep in nests and each night they make a new nest. They eat 50lbs. of vegetation each day. They love needles and ants. In the afternoon the adults take naps, so at that time the young ones play. Each gorilla has their own nose print, each one is different, and never one the same. Gorillas experience tons of poaching problems.

Dian Fossey studied gorillas. She put a stop to most of the poaching. Since poachers were no longer getting income, they put out a bounty on her head to kill her. She was caught, assassinated and beheaded. Her death made poaching a world-wide campaign and actually helped the gorillas more. They buried her body with her friends the gorillas. Poachers would use snares to trap gorillas. Baby gorillas would be curious and stick there limb in. As the rope catches their limb, it tightens making the baby lose a limb. Dian Fossey opened an orphanage before she died for injured or abandoned baby gorillas. The orphanage helped the babies that were hurt by poachers or if a baby lost its mother, the baby would not live on its own. So it has a better chance of living in the orphanage. The people in the town are a big part of this problem.
The gorilla fund is trying to teach the people in the town how to make money by helping the gorillas instead of poaching them. The people need to treat them like a treasure. We share 98% of our DNA with gorillas. Average Rwandans make about $2.50. (not enough to live on). If people buy fair trade coffee, it will pay the Rwandans for their work and it will give them more money to live on. Dean Jacobs donated 5 years worth of notebooks and pens. People and gorillas can coexist, they can learn from each other.

Please save the gorillas. They are a big part of life and deserve to be saved. If we can save them, it will show how much people care and can pull together to help animals that are endangered. Once again they need our help and we can save them. Wasingya!
By: Jordyn S