Cross River Gorilla
| Cross River Gorilla Conservation status: Critical | ||||||||||||||||
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| Gorilla gorilla diehli (Matschie, 1904) |
The Cross River Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is a subspecies of the Western Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) that can be found on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon, in both tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests. In contrast to the relatively common Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) the Cross River Gorilla is the most endangered of all the gorillas, and is the most endangered primate.
The Cross River Gorilla differs from the Western Lowland Gorilla in both skull and tooth dimensions.
Estimates on the amount of Cross River Gorillas remaining vary, with around 100-200 believed to be remaining in the wild, in several populations that are isolated by farmlands. The nearest population of Western Lowland Gorilla is some 250 km away. Both loss of habitat and the increased popularity of bushmeat have contributed heavily to the decline of this subspecies.