HOW MOUNTAIN GORILLA CENSUS IS DONE.

Mountain gorillas are found in Uganda, Rwanda and Eastern part Democratic Repubublic of Congo.Mountain gorillas population has been reducing due to diffrent issues that threaten their life. Of recent mountain gorilas in Uganda and Rwanda have started increasing .Hence the gorilla census requirement to ascertain their numbers from time to time.This has helped to promote gorilla safaris in both contries. The census begins with the individuals following the gorilla trails until they locate a nest site. Every evening gorilla make nest in which they sleep. They never return to those nests. Even if they return to the same site they ,they make new nest next to the old one. Each nest contains the one gorilla and considering as used when a gorilla dung is found in it. The first duty after finding a gorilla nest site is to establish how old it is .If it is older than five days ,then it is useless because most of the DNA is gone. “One site can have many nests, so the nest is labeled with a small piece of paper. Then protective gloves are worn and begin establishing the size of the dung”. Depending on the size of the dung found , the data collectors can conclude , using age classification strata, whether an adult male , medium range or baby gorilla was in the nest. “During measuring 7.2cm,with silvery hair in it ,means an adult male gorilla (silver back )slept in the nest. Other dung is classified as medium size ,though not specify the sex” While measuring the dung ,the sample collector has to ensure that his gloves do not touch it because that particular DNA can be transferred to other dung, thus making it hard for the laboratory to have conclusive findings .Also ,sample collectors are not allowed to speak while handling the dung because their Silva can mix with the gorilla’s DNA . After measuring the dung , a sample of it is placed in a tube containing ethanol .The tube is then transferred to a Ziploc bag. Ethanol preserves the dung for an average of 24- 30 hours before the sample is shifted to another r tube containing silica to keep it dry. The laboratory analysis to establish the individual DNA of the gorillas is done in an American lab. After collecting data samples from one gorilla site ,the team follows the gorilla trail to look for more nesting sites. From at least three consecutive nest sites, you can tell the average number of gorillas in that particular group. If the first site had 19 nests, the second one might have slightly less or more and this is important because what you missed in the previous site can be found in the next site . Once a good number of samples have been collected ,it is shipped out of the forest for storage until the end of the exercise when the samples will be transferred to the USA