Mountain Gorillas Take Fight to Survive Online

Ugandan animals' advocates embrace social networking
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 28, 2009 6:37 PM CDT
Mountain Gorillas Take Fight to Survive Online
Bilali bonds with her baby Kakule at the Virunga National Park, near the Ugandan border in eastern Congo. Only about 700 mountain gorillas are left in the world, an estimated 190 of them in Congo.    (AP Photo / Gorilla.cd ,ho)

Not only can your online buddies be any age and in any location, they don't even have to be your species. Tech-savvy advocates of the endangered mountain gorilla are about to launch an umbrella site, friendagorilla.org, that will feature videos, social networking, and blogs—by park rangers, not gorillas. The first-of-its-kind effort is based at the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, home to 370 animals, about half of the planet's remaining population of mountain gorillas.

"It was pretty surreal," actor Jason Biggs, who's helping to get the word out, tells Reuters. "I felt like when I made eye contact with the gorillas, it was like an out-of-body experience. It was mind-blowing."
(More mountain gorillas stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X