dominance. with the w business beyond. ah, ah, mountain gorillas have been on the brink of extinction. but are the only primates currently increasing in number? reaching the milestone, 1000 gorillas has been remarkable. so it's extremely good news. but while the mountain gorilla population increases, what happens when their habitat does not grow with them? that book is that thought, there are far more cases of guerrilla groups attacking each other than there used to be with fatalities on a regular basis. yeah. your us, this is something common into our group faith. and that is, i think once last year we wanted to know whether the stress levels are increasing. if we don't like to know, we at risk of not being able to do it in 10 years, for example, from now. conservationists and scientists face a growing number of challenges and questions. what's our goal? 801502000 guerrillas. is it still a wild population or when does it become a wild? do? oh, the roots, last surviving mountain gorillas, live in 2 relatively small areas in the east of africa. one population lives on the slopes of the veranda mountains. a chain of volcanoes straddling the border region between were wanda uganda and the democratic republic of congo. the other is located just 30 kilometers to the north. in uganda. in the windy, impenetrable forest. a primeval lowland and mountain rain, forest region. 331 square kilometers of land known for its exceptional biodiversity, or home to over $400.00 of the world's last mountain gorillas. the kind of terrain that makes it difficult to determine their exact numbers. there is also a reason is called impenetrable. now, the vegetation is very done, you can have a grill and not very far away from here and not know it because of all of it. martha robin's from the max planck institute in germany is on her way to the mo cheese a group of guerrillas. each class is assign the same name as back into its liter, a silver back. ah. after a 90 minute hike, the american anthropologist reaches her destination. we where surgical masks when we're with them, the guerrillas, if we're within 10 meters of them, we wear them. because even though right now, i feel very healthy, i'm not exhibiting any signs of having a cold. i may still be carrying it. and the last thing i want to do is get these gorilla. so there are several, right you if we just wait, they're going across right across here. this is very rare. that adult female was new jenny, she has the youngest baby who is about 9 months old now. but interestingly, she was also carrying a 2nd infant which was not hers. a 2nd infant. get the phone fax gonna come across there, 13 guerrillas in this group. the silverback is about 20 years old. he has been habituated from birth. i've actually watched him grow up, which is pretty cool. habitually it means that the silver back and his group have been introduced to the presence of humans. the behavioral scientist observes what the animals eat, how they interact, and how the individuals differ. studying every detail of their world, although always from a distance with these habituated guerrillas, it's amazing because they kind of led us into their world. so we can observe their day to day activities. it's always very thrilling to see the new babies and to see them grow this ones at the breach the age where he's starting to explore everything and it's, it's really quite fun to watch. and the broader view, though, it's very exciting and good to know that every new baby represents a healthy population and represents that the population is growing. the mountain guerrillas are the only great apes in the world known to be increasing in population. at the end of 2018, the international union for conservation of nature announced the highly encouraging news that they were now classified as merely endangered. in contrast to other gorilla species, which remained critically endangered martha robins has witnessed that recovery in the course of her research. he was born in 1999 and i go out there now and i see him leading a group with 5 adult females. he's got his own kid climbing all over him. i feel so privilege that i've been able to watch the same gorilla over 20 years. every 5 years, the researchers conduct a precise census of the gorilla. it's often an exercise in extreme patience. not all of the groups of blendy guerrillas are easy to track constantly to ensure that every single animal is counted. the team painstakingly comes every section of the rain forest in the process covering several 1000 kilometers on foot. during the census is what we will have 6 teams of 5 people working over a period of about 3 months. i have been involved in 5, not girl offensive, and it is by far the most difficult work i have done here. we see from east twist. so for example, this map, if with one that is interested. so for example, i just said then to humans in the new drum and 2 teams i need, if i will, i will talk over there over there. but the main thing we're looking for is fresh gorilla trail. so when the girls walk through the far as they're eating phase, they're big animals. so they bass down vegetation, which there was a lot of here. and the trackers experience people were able to see this is a gorilla trail. and if we find that it's great because then we will track to the next sites and be able to count enough and collect gorillas, make nests every night. so they've been down vegetation said falsely, and if you have 10 guerrillas in a group, maybe you'll find 8 now. and maybe 2 of those nes, have big adult size theses in it and then small baby size pieces. and so that's how we can ascertain that there are probably 10 guerrillas in that group, but to ensure that that number is accurate. and it's not a case where one gorilla made a nest and actually didn't like who they were sleeping next to. so they made it someplace else, and we double count that gorilla. we also do genetic analysis with the theses. we know that this is an endangered population. and the way i look at it is imagine you're a business man. and imagine you make toothpaste. so again, something very basic, you would want to track how much to space you're making, how much you're selling, and what to do if you're not selling any. so it's kind of the same with conserving endangered species where we need to know how many there are and whether it's increasing or decreasing. because that gives us some indication as to whether the conservation strategies are working or not. or whether we should try something different. ah, just 30 kilometers south in the veronica region. those conservation strategies have already proved fruitful on the horizon, the chain of volcanoes scaling over 3000 meters high that gave the park its name. the mountain gorilla population here has doubled over the last 3 decades. the most recent census covering the border region between uganda, the democratic republic of congo, and were wanda counted 604 animals there were wandered. government has banned poaching and logging in the national park and introduced a controlled tourism concept. part of the resulting revenue is assigned to nature conservation, while 10 percent goes towards the construction of schools, roads, and hospitals in the region. most sondra is the gateway to the national park. a city of around 100000, that his florist with the resurgence and tourism. a promising example of her wand is rapid development since the genocide of 1994. i'm with her german gorilla expert vinny i caught is a long term associate of the care. so he research center, she's continuing the work of diane fuzzy who set up the facility after coming to her wanda, in 1967 dash lightest and in house on this desk was in diane fuzzies house and had been secured before the conflict in rwanda began. she would sit here practically every evening at her desk with her typewriter and record all the details she'd observed in the groups she'd visited during the day. ask, had observed ations that enabled the pioneering american researcher to start compiling a unique collection of data thought on august. this finance nom, fungal, is del, exciting to find name of guerrillas that we've been monitoring since they were really young and watching them grow out of it. it's really impressive how detailed how observations. well, it's other full bath in the 1970s, diane fussy, counted a solitary, $254.00 mountain gorillas, prompting her to embark on an uncompromising fight against poachers and the deforestation of the mountain green forest. at the same time, however, that commitment was not always welcome and earned her many enemies it. i thought i was at the time when diana fussy was still alive and protecting the guerrillas out of she didn't believe that they would survive until the year 2000. she assumed that guerrillas would be extinct by then yup. of the forms and diane fuzzy did not live to see the turn around me animals, fortunes. she was murdered in her cabin in 1985 of her wanton court, found her research assistant guilty in absentia. but some experts suggest the true culprit was a poacher, but her efforts helped the world to learn about the fate of the great eaves. conservation measures started producing results. the mountain gorilla's numbers finally began to rise again, albeit with unforeseen consequences. but the use in that is definitely what we see here is the habitat, the be so kindly simple, the kara simbie volcano and this is approximately where diane fussy, set up her tennis, said of cobalt when vinny a cart began her research in rwanda in 2004, there were 3 groups of guerrillas. each shifting trail scene here represents their respective movement patterns. these appointments and we behind the site, we've seen a tremendous growth in these groups over a period of 15 years. as many as $65.00 gorillas in the pablo group, which is an absolute world record the mouth. and so the in 2004, i wasn't aware that that could be more than one, seal the back in a group. what happened in 2007 took us all by surprise, slashed on a protracted period of stability, was followed by chaos. lung cancer forced end sensations. equal asthma, 65 gorillas in one group couldn't work well for long. again, we were waiting for something to happen in the groups, partly split up males dotted to form their own group with some female couple of credits of pablo, for example, split into several groups. and instead of 3 groups before we had at times, 12 groups. so with 3 times as many groups in the same area, i'mma, there's less habitat, the group that it all, and with groups encountering each other. more often, interactions can be incredibly stressful. toughest for the males is camina fight to the death. and things can also get critical for the young animals is al, from spirit thought vinnie a cart and her team of researchers visit the national park several times a week. their mission is to find out how the guerrillas are reacting to their increasingly crowded habitat. the veronica is a small protected area surrounded by a region that is extensively farmed by local residents, with their fields reaching right up to the borders of the park. and the primates cannot simply migrate when conditions become constraint. mm. vinny eckart wants to explore the social dynamics between the primates. she's now on her way to a group named after a former dominant silverback pablo. after living through major upheavals in the past, the group currently number is 24 animals. at the border of the national park, the scientists meet some park rangers. they usually know exactly where the individual groups are at any given time. the team announced their arrival in the guerrillas own language. lucian. yes, i know it's, that's called a belch mallet. we use it when we arrive and kathy approached the group. but it works like a greeting. we hey, now way coming. it's all good about his food. if antonio, you can see the size of the vegetation, vegetable cause of the belch vowels are very important, so they can hara and soften with them. okay, so those are very special friend. unfortunately, a bit too curious. sometimes a flight cook, maybe just take the camera down for a bit in columbus in the day that pablo group are in a peaceful mood. 3 gorilla babies. enjoy frolicking around in the morning. sun completely dependent on their mother's their breast fed until they're about 3 and a half years old. at 9 months, they start nibbling on their 1st plants. and step by step, learn to stand on their own feet in the jungle classroom. ah. but only if an incline i'm where you can see the little one there that's zulu younger than any other. he loves to planes much while sometimes he plays alone. like right now. i thought she was probably unable to find a playmate, but it won't be long until another youngster comes around, which is a welcome invitation that will combine idle. ah, ah, at this age fights between the young apes are all about playing. but if a juvenile male wants to challenge the dominant, silver back orphan outside, gorilla tries to win the affections of females from the group. things can suddenly take a very aggressive turn. the growing population density over recent years has seen such fights become increasingly frequent. oh the i'm fly tullison in 2007 we had about one interaction per month yet. so now we sometimes see up to 3 a day between different groups. so the interaction rate has become extremely high. name woke a gun, babies faced the greatest danger during such fights. as long as the guerrilla mother is still nursing, she's not ready to meet again. when a male manages to learn a way, a female, he'll almost always kill her young so that he can sire his own offspring with her sooner. infanticide is a phenomenon seen in a range of animals. amanda life, it allayed. for that, i know of course it's one of those things that are very hard to be witness to and to process. he want to intervene life a little, but you know that it's natural behavior that you have to exam and you have to toughen up and not let things get to, you know, unless, but of course it's really difficult. it can be, you've known the young ones and they mothers from day one, and you can see them really suffering and distress it exerts on the whole group. it's hard to accept the field, that's how it is for a while. so the researchers observations have produced some surprising scientific results. planning . 15000 kilometers away. tell me your car. you is a professor of anthropology at the university of california davis, where dian farsi once studied for 2 semesters. the french gorilla researcher updates his students on the latest developments like a depressed video depress. yes. so they do? yeah. they gives up. they have, you know, corridors are like most mammals actually they have feelings. a female girl i loses her, all spray will be sat for a period of time, but eventually she'd get over a thought she would get pregnant again and hopefully forget a little bit about the tragedy of him. but i do remember distinctly observe a female girl, and i remember that i was just lost all spring and she looked sad and she was always sort of on the edge of the group. not very active, not play food for a few months after the death of rosman. no dummy o. k o is focus is on long term data. he uses quantitative methods to monitor patterns and developments covering years or decades and visits the guerrillas in the wild on a regular basis. he benefits from the long term records compiled by the field researchers in rwanda. half a century of observations initiated by diane fussy, have resulted in a massive database that now enables new insights. who was the come on cur? earlier on because you can clearly see that there were almost no cases of infanticide in rwanda between 198-2000. after that, the number of cases increased dramatically as shown by these little red asterisks here over the last 10 years for the mortality rate of baby girl. as due to infanticide has increased by fold. plus the mortality rate among male gorillas has also risen as a result of wounds they incurred during those encounters. you can use analyses provide the basis for forecasts about the guerrillas future. does the enormous growth in population pose a threat to the animal's healthy development, nani visuals kinda of pure natural ad? well, the nap, when we're seeing a level of violence that is no longer naturally us, that's causing a slow down in population growth. and if that level of aggression persistence, it might even start shrinking with poor memo the quiet home dice yos and eve with i guess we'll continue asthma. so contribute got a mode louder and in addition to the population, no longer self adjusting stress levels are also on the up. it's a problem we really need to resolve back in her wander, kato's fellow researcher, veneer cart, is trying to track down the source of at the same stress problem. mafia. this is our 1st concern was finding out how stressful these interactions can be within a group. you can yeah, that sometimes extremely peaceful, especially with groups that would have only recently separated and it will sometimes be just a playful encounter. but it can also get very, very aggressive physicals if applauding from direct observation alone, the scientists cannot gauge the physiological impact that stress can have on individual guerrillas, which is why vinny, a cart is likewise interested in the animal species. yasmina could papa fun and wipes this is a fico sample from a female that just passed by it in you don't need that much. i used the glove as a conveyor. i'm just turn it inside out. pretty straightforward. the foster on and then tie not. thanks. when i next do you need to write down what time it is of noon? off shy of miss beth. it's f o and sunfish. it's 1121. i am actually. the fecal sample is from move capture do. that's her code lloyd and. and so the top people in the lab know who sample it is with us. i filled the note up really small claim and push it into the glove. i think after bmw with this info it would say to me, more do people not easy to learn more, hold your book, but to try our best annella's. conceive a fine. we affectionately call this apt hoop. lab vas hawthorne. what rosen martin are doing right now is extracting hormones from the fecal samples we collected in the forest by the summer time. as is the case with humans to stress triggers. a hormonal chain reaction and gorillas bodies than i n a global are inched with fructose exposure to a stress factor and leads to a very long stress cascade. the fundies are the end products from that reaction of n, incorporated into the feces via the intestines. and then excrete it on done with cash . and that gives us an opportunity to determine the stress level without needing to take a blood sample. if alcohol then come, because trust isn't you've advice, beautiful. and here's an example of a very aggressive interaction that took the group completely by surprise as a silver back appeared out of nowhere and ran into the group. that's lunch when you can see very clearly how the 2 youngest animals have the biggest stress levels on fire because they also at risk of falling victim to infanticide of the fire. and what you can also see very clearly is the stress level going down again after 5 days. good. once this was man's and us reacting to an acute stress factor is vital for survival, lead for humans as well as for guerrillas, for men being ready to fight. that means you can react appropriately to danger muscle, the akin of an agatha. fussy though at this does become problematic. if a stress factor is prolonged or occurs very frequently, and regularly is elf to it. so in a 2nd study, the expert looked into which conditions caused permanent stress and came across to quantifiable triggers is getting of women just there are things we have to keep a close eye on because of changes we've noticed in baseline level on the v some biospine in mumps, when temperatures have risen very high, for example, hawkish, dickinson, and also mumps with extreme rainfall. being defined as this indicates that climate change is a challenge and a hospital with a challenge that's very much being felt in rwanda dry seasons are becoming more protracted, while rainfall is often heavier and more densely concentrated than in previous decades. experts predict a rise in temperature of up to 3 degrees celsius by 2050. yet they are all contributor. i'd guess that especially cold days would be more likely to cause stress. because you can really see the guerrillas cuddling up together and that they look a bit uncomfortable, very often. but it was very surprising that the hot months on a tougher for the gorillas shop that might be connected to them having black fur, which absorbs the sun's rays and can lead to heat stress or through it. but it could also be due to them day hydrating quickly the, the body having to work harder to compensate with malice. it was closed. in addition to climate related changes in the region, a 2nd factor has measurably increased the animal stress levels. ready than have no escrow. we also found that groups with only very small areas exclusively to themselves. and sometimes none at all showed increased baseline stress levels. not simply because they overlap so much without the group lunchtime damage to some, it might be related to them having to share food resources. the fun you don't type, you don't know the constant possibility of running into another grew funny. one of any cards. research results are alarming, akin to an early warning system. as for acute symptoms of stress, that's where the so called the gorilla doctors come in. the vets are called out almost daily due to mountain gorillas, falling ill or being wounded. doctor guest bar ins. eyes anger is one of them then found a way to do anything. this seemed to be tension between the dominance of above and his subordinate save a few minutes later that vision became into a fight between the 2. we witnessed that fight into an injury, which was not really serious. one that it was the one which was to face and bleeding. the 2nd lacking about god's official. and on the on the right. it's not just in the emergency that the guerrilla doctors hit the road. they're also involved in preventative missions, regardless of the weather and how long or difficult be effective today, the team will be making their way up the slopes of the car assembly. it's the highest of the room regents 8 volcanoes stretching to over 4500 meters e, constantly monitoring the head of this for position and with the help of our fields, team old truck, us who also reports every day on his to death of him who are members, or sometimes takes so many hours of hiking because we know where they live with them yesterday and they typed estimate the distance. but from the morning, the 30 or so moving out of nowhere, a thunderstorm, a wraps over the rain forest. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, thank to get on the scene, you know, after another hour of walking in the constant down port, the vet hears, familiar sounds good. he's finally found the group the park rangers had already informed him about fights and the wounds to silver back had inflicted on each other. the doctor wants to make his own appraisal with them by the thick and thinking about him, there was a group. he's the one that is of the center that they're challenging it dominates. he's a buck could either if he has a famed and warned which is heating in the back down. good to cover the show goods heating signs and when it proved for the left within funding. and then how think of in and providing is theory. if i go to this and that's why i keep close eye on this for vision, one into them closer the just a single out. rick can rival their position. there is a constant threat of viruses being introduced to the park by visitors, human share 90.4 percent of their dna with mountain guerrillas, making us dangerously close relatives. there was an outbreak in 2009 which cleared up at 2 burritos. and we managed to find out that to divide us that was responsible for that outbreak was that city. the human with the new movers, which is a human fate us, are human efforts to protect gorillas, in effect, endangering them almost to $100.00 tourists a day are allowed to visit the mountain gorillas in the national park in rwanda, with just one hour with the animals costing a small fortune a ticket costs $1500.00 us dollars. the tourist industry earns the countries $17.00 to $18000000.00 a year, and part of that revenue flows back into the parks, conservation and thus directly benefits the guerrillas. this in britain comes with the challenge to have a broad turn trim t groups of, of graders, of modern graders. and what does that mean with her? a high bid at over 100 to 60 square kilometers. that is very small. together with the park director, the state head of wildlife conservation is looking for compromises that will ensure a satisfactory balance between species protection, tourism, and the growing concerns of the local people. this is the older buffalo that tries to deter roger from coming from the park. we've seen buffers coming, got hoops in good us coming, goes not, not our wish, of course, but it happens as we try to to better every day. the, the protection of her, her, the rather slow, but also protecting all people. the animals live right next door to the local population. who farm fields with potatoes and beans, as well as eucalyptus reaching right up to the border of the national park. and mountain gorillas have a craving for eucalyptus being accustomed to the presence of humans, the animals feel comfortable roaming around here. francois in the good sir used to be a poacher in the park today here and says living as a farmer, working 7 hectares of land. all the code of a little round were the vehicles them walker. these fields are mine to yet new, from sheer up to the border of the national park with in a was that you manage it look like a club of the globe navy that you, them gluck of that tree. you. if a guerrilla comes and turns off the bark all around it, the inside is all that remains to be loaded up, but it's the bark that carries the soft from bottom to top. so i would if the barks gone, the tree dries out and dies with the vehicle. then we have to cut it down to your mother, maria tim. not only mountain gorillas, but also buffalo and forest elephants. frequently leave the park and destroy harvests francois and a good sir can applied to the gover meant for compensation. but it only partially makes up for his losses. don't worry as though they plundered the fields. sometimes they destroy up to 2000 square meters of land, which cost me $5.00 tons of potatoes. instead of earning 1200000 rwandan trunk. i get 122150000 in compensation. while people who live in the vicinity of the national park receive financial support from the government and various organisations, they face losses of 90 percent and you don't go over the good. we've often said that the government should put up a fence around the national park that would end the conflict between farmers and humans. when there's a conflict that's been going on for decades since the founding of the national park in 1925 huge sections of land were cleared for settlements and agriculture. as the parks area shrank by 54 percent, the number of mountain guerrillas also plummeted. now that their population has recovered, the government is looking for a different strategy because the pac snow and the girl of oppression is drawing, we want to expand it and expanding its minutes from this warrior, seeing and downward, about 3 kilometers. there were wanting authorities have already drawn up plans. the park has to be expanded by $3740.00 hector's plus an additional buffer zone covering $6000.00 hector's. the buffers on his billing space, where management is amends under government and the management of a national park. but it was in this buffer than we've been to probably plan to bumble or tea, coffee, economic activity that has not seen the activities of conservation, but sometimes aims to benefit their lockers. the government plans for the parks expansion involve resettling 3600 households with 18000 people in return. it promised them new modern villages with electricity and drinking water or infrastructure that is needed, especially ferguson health and education, which is key, but also envisioned that one this project sets about 7500 people, the employees regardless of that potential future project. gene dark movie humana has major worries to deal with in the present. she has a modest piece of land on which she grows vegetables to feed herself and her 5 children. she also works as a day laborer, and in a good month has 25 heroes in her household budget. like many others, she's concerned about not being adequately compensated. yo, there's not come. i got to learn from my in laws to build a house here. when loss is about to take a turn for the worse, well, nobody could call me back and just got to let me. so the growth in the mountain gorilla population also raises underlying ethical questions with human interests. conflicting with those of wildlife conservation. it's an issue that also concerns scientist, martha robbins, in uganda. germany's max planck institute for evolutionary anthropology has an outpost in the 20 forest. this is what i call the gorilla. well, it's vaguely an art meet check. so this is something i just kind of started for fun to mark the development of individual guerrillas. so each column is a different individual gorilla. these 2 infants were born about 2 years ago. this one about a year and a half ago among wendy guerrillas. females typically give birth every 5 years. the biologist has discovered though, that in the virginia region, the time between birth is a year longer. this means that the population, wendy, is not growing quite as quickly. but overall the trend is positive. they represent more than the numbers. i mean, we know the population of increased, but at the same time it's made up of individuals. we have only about a 1000. so on the one hand, we still run the risk that they could go extinct. but on the other hand, we need to shift and start thinking differently about some management strategies. we have a few, but the max planck institute for anthropology in lab 6 germany 90 percent of the mountain gorillas from wanda, uganda, and the congo are registered at the genetics laboratory. here the result of the scientists extensive census work and the statistics confirm their growing numbers. the most recent census and the blendy forest counted $459.00 mountain guerrillas together with their counterparts in the virginia area. the total figure is $1063.00. i think the success is a success, but the question is, is it too much of a good thing? you leave her unblocked caroline, you, buddhist, catherine, you the ma 30, they don't say professional the of go. it's very likely that the stress level and death rate at the gorilla population will increase use more animals will have health problems or die than has previously been the case there. and you can ask yourself, will local authorities and international organizations allow this num and accept the fate of this population? acres cell resolves at booklet su, west journal pow, his dad's investment often your will, they be tempted to intervene, that we have more people in the national park protecting guerrillas than guerrillas themselves. he bought more researchers, conservationists, and tourists than anywhere else in the world. today. the gorillas depend on human life liberal and humans depend on the guerrillas, we no longer really have a species that lives while to untouched ties and independent of human activities activity. mm hm. ah, how much intervention do we want to do when we're monitoring them? if the management goes very, very far in terms of what kind of medical care these guerrillas are getting, are we supplementing a diet and we are so far away from that now. but is it still a while population or when does it become a wild zoo? this is a conversation that needs all the people involved in guerrilla conservation, and that conversation needs to start now. ah, ah, is it a matter of tellin more can everyone are the self motivated or do they need a lot of outside pressure? musical prodigies. what does the rest of their life look like? we asked genius is big and small. experts and the parents aren't 21. in 30 minutes on d w o. job i was just rescuing deducted from a farm. this one this body globally. i found it like this and i couldn't just leave it there. i should meet you. this is such a great burden with it was so dirty that cleaning it, turn the entire bathroom into a matt. this is the water birds 1st. well, one of the most beautiful moments i've ever experienced with a dock you series about our complex relationship with animals. well, i think i will live long enough to witness the end of factory farming. the great debate this week on d. w or ah, ah ah, ah, this is dw news life from the land. the bloody battle for buck, mood intensifies rushes. wagner mercenary group claims further advances in ukraine's eastern city. the front line is now reportedly the river dividing the city with ukrainian forces holding the western back.