A massive decade-long study of Western Equatorial Africa’s gorillas and chimpanzees has uncovered both good news and bad about our nearest relatives. The good news: there are one third more western lowland gorillas and one tenth more central chimpanzees than previously thought. The bad news: the vast majority of these great apes (80 percent) exist outside of protected areas, and gorilla populations are declining by 2.7 percent annually.

OUESSO, Republic of Congo (March 9, 2018)— Conservationists from the WCS Congo Program have captured incredible video of a western lowland gorilla newborn living in the rainforests of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. The infant was barely a week old when the footage was shot last month, according to the WCS scientists who managed to capture the footage.

December 21, 2017 — A group of scientists now considers a little-known dolphin that only lives along the Atlantic coasts of Western Africa to be among the continent’s most endangered mammals, a list that includes widely recognized species such as gorillas, African wild dogs, and black rhinos, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and the IUCN’s (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Cetacean Specialist Group.

December 11, 2017 – He’s tall, muscular and has striking black hair. He is shy, known locally as “Ichi,” and he’s looking for a mate. Please leave him alone.

Bronx, NY – Aug. 31, 2017 – A baby Angolan colobus monkey (Colobus angolensis) was born this month in the Congo Gorilla Forest at WCS’s Bronx Zoo and is currently on exhibit.

July 19, 2017 – Researchers from WCS’s Congo Program released touching footage of two sibling western lowland gorillas in a tender embrace.

NEW YORK (October 27, 2016) — A proposed superhighway in Nigeria’s Cross River State will displace 180 indigenous communities and threaten one of the world’s great centers of biodiversity if completed, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).

Oct. 19, 2016 – WCS is saddened to learn that a park ranger was recently killed in Kahuzi Biega National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo defending critically endangered Grauer’s gorillas.

Sept 4, 2016 -- Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), a subspecies of eastern gorilla, the world's largest ape, and confined to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

June 16, 2016 – A new report released by WCS and partners shows how to successfully stem the decline for an imperiled gorilla sub-species hanging on in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).