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KINSHASA, Congo (AP) -- "Rebels have seized an area in eastern Congo that serves as a wildlife habitat for endangered mountain gorillas, threatening one of the last known populations of the animals, conservationists said Sunday." "Four months ago, the dead body of a female gorilla was found. Conservationists say she was killed execution style."

Three female mountain gorillas and a male silverback gorilla were found shot dead this week inside a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a conservation group said Thursday. The bodies were discovered inside Virunga National Park but it was unclear who killed them and why, the International Gorilla Conservation Program said in a statement. "Just over 700 mountain gorillas survive in the wild today, and none exist in captivity," the group said. "For such a small population, the unnecessary and indiscriminate killing of four mountain gorillas is a huge loss."

Pubic lice leapt from gorillas to early humans 18:26 07 March 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi A genetic analysis of pubic lice suggests the parasites were transferred between early humans and gorillas about 3.3 million years ago. Researchers say the findings suggest close contact between our ancestors and gorillas. But they claim it is far more likely that early humans caught the lice from sleeping in abandoned gorilla nests than from having sex with gorillas. Pubic lice – also known as crabs – can leave irritating spots on the skin when they feed on the blood of their hosts....

YET more evidence is in that the Ebola virus is spreading in a wave across Africa - putting the world's last big populations of lowland gorillas directly in its path. In 2003, an outbreak of Ebola struck gorillas living in the Congo. Bats in the area at that time were also carrying the virus, researchers recently discovered (New Scientist, 3 December 2005, p 20). That meant either the virus had always been lurking in bats, and spread to the gorillas, or that the bats were newly infected as the epidemic crossed their territory. Now researchers have found that the bat...

Gorillas infecting each other with Ebola 17:00 10 July 2006 NewScientist.com news service Debora MacKenzie Lowland gorillas are catching the devastating Ebola virus not just from the virus's normal host, thought to be bats, but also from each other. So conclude Damien Caillaud and colleagues at the University of Rennes in France, who began watching 377 gorillas in Odzala National Park in Congo in 2001. "Maybe 30 are left now" of that original group, Caillaud told New Scientist.(There are other gorillas in the park that were not in the study group, which was defined by their use of the observation...

According to the Bush administration and the US senate, we need guest workers in this country, presumably to do the heavy lifting which Americans are no longer capable of. I've got an idea for a sort of an ultimate version of something like that... According to everything I read, gorillas in the wild are in danger of outright extinction, mainly due to human encroachment on teritories. Also from most of what I read, gorillas are basically bright, and very easy to get along with, as compared to chimps which should be regarded as dangerous. According to some of what I...

Take one soup cube, pepper, salt and onions, not forgetting chunks of monkey, head included. Cook in a casserole and serve. At the restaurant "Maman Marie Gibier (game)" in Libreville, the dish will set appreciative diners back 2.80 dollars. "I have been eating monkey since I was little," said Sandra, 28, who works for a bank. But she draws the line at great ape meat. "Gorillas, they look like people. You can't eat that. It's horrible." Her colleague Jean is less fastidious. "Monkey meat, big or small, it's all the same once it's in the bowl." It is uncommon to...

Birthday boy goes off his rocker 29nov04 IT was like any other fifth birthday party on a Sunday afternoon. The birthday boy scoffed his sweets - then got into a blue with his brother over toys. Melbourne Zoo star attraction Yakini turned five yesterday and the young western lowland gorilla received a plastic rocker to mark the occasion. But he wasn't about to share it with his brother, Ganyeka. It took a bit of gorilla warfare to sort it out, but Yakini was soon happily playing solo with his new toy. With his family looking on, including his 190kg dad...

Scientists fear new Ebola outbreak may explain sudden gorilla disappearance More than 20,000 Western lowland gorillas could die within months if outbreak confirmed August 27, 2004 (Torino, Italy) – Scientists fear that emerging evidence may suggest a new outbreak of the Ebola virus, which, in addition to threatening human lives, would threaten tens of thousands of great apes – in this case gorillas and chimpanzees – in the Republic of Congo. The announcement was made by the International Primatological Society (IPS) and Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP) at the IPS's 20th Congress, being held this week in Turin, Italy. Congo's...

<p>KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) -- The number of rare mountain gorillas living in central Africa has increased by 17 percent during the past 15 years, despite conflict in the region, poaching and human incursions into the animals' habitat, a Rwandan wildlife official said Saturday.</p>

L O N D O N, Nov. 14— Some consider gorillas to be man's closest cousin in the animal kingdom — but they're not the kind of cousin you might invite over for a night of baby-sitting. That is unless you're rich, famous and count the hairy beasts as some of your closest friends. An eccentric British multimillionaire and his TV-host girlfriend are reportedly about to hand over their baby to a hairy 200-pound nanny who lives in a cage. Damien Aspinall — a rich Londoner who has inherited a chain of zoos from his father — and his girlfriend,...

Citizens for a Sound Economy June 19, 2003 By : Rob Jordan Going “Toe-to-Toe” with The Organized Left Michigan CSE protests Senator Levin’s blocking of judicial nominees Brighton, MI - The powerful Union forces of the organized left were in for shock when they encountered a highly organized and well-poised group of CSE activists at an annual event featuring U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). The Michigan Chapter of CSE turned out the troops to demonstrate opposition to Levin’s blocking of the federal judicial nominations made by President Bush. The rally was headed by Steve Williams, a Michigan CSE Volunteer Chapter...

Elusive African Apes: Giant Chimps or New Species? John Roach for National Geographic News April 14, 2003 A mysterious group of apes found in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa has scientists and conservationist scratching their heads. The apes nest on the ground like gorillas but have a diet and features characteristic of chimpanzees. The apes are most likely a group of giant chimpanzees that display gorilla-like behavior. A far more remote possibility is that they represent a new subspecies of great ape. Researchers plan to return to the region later this month to collect more clues...

FR. JAMES THORNTON In the Book of Psalms we read, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork." To most men living in the time before the rise of modern science, to look up into the sky was to see irrefutable evidence of God's glory and of His boundless power. The daytime dominated by the majestic fiery orb of the sun, with its life-bestowing warmth and light, and the black dome of the night, with its mysterious moon and its millions of bright stars and many planets, could be logically explained in no other way....