Who Is the Beauty and Who Is the Beast?

There is little question that many people living in developed countries are fascinated by gorillas. Most people reading this article will strongly believe that everyone should be intrigued by and care deeply for gorillas as individuals, populations, and species. This is likely the case because of some combination of their close relatedness to humans, their intelligence and behaviour, their size and strength, and ultimately their magnificence and splendor. On a popular level, the allure is likely because the gorilla is viewed as an animal that can be extremely dangerous, yet can also be gentle and human-like. Why was a gorilla chosen as the monster in King Kong, and not an elephant, leopard, or chimpanzee? This complex attraction can be summed up by the two questions I am most commonly asked as a scientist studying gorillas: Are they dangerous? Has one ever touched you? While the answer to both of these questions is yes, they basically miss the point of what, in my opinion, makes gorillas interesting and why they should be studied and conserved.
This fascination with gorillas is largely held by people who do not have them as their neighbours. Gorillas are at risk of extinction today because of habitat destruction, logging, disease, poaching and the bushmeat trade. Ultimately all conservation issues boil down to conflict between humans and wildlife. Add in the reality that gorillas live in 9 African countries that suffer from poverty, corruption, and political instability and the situation appears bleak; but all these countries are making remarkable conservation efforts considering the economic and development challenges they face. The costs and benefits of gorillas to different people vary hugely. For example, consider the disparity in perception toward gorillas among the following:

• A subsistence farmer, earning less than US$ 500 per year and residing on the border of a park where gorillas live, who has suffered from loss of crops due to raiding by gorillas and not received compensation.
• An ecotourist who wants to be touched or charged by a gorilla so he can take home the photo and the story from his once in a lifetime adventure. His permit fees contribute to gorilla conservation, but is he better informed about the conservation challenges and any more likely to make financial contributions directly to conservation organisations?
• A government official from a country where gorillas reside, who may have little understanding of gorilla biology and conservation, but must reconcile the benefits of gorilla tourism money and recognition to his country against the demands of the local populace.

Juxtapose these situations with the fact that that the movie King Kong can generate US$ 500 million in revenue from wealthy, gorilla-loving countries and at the same time conservation organisations across Africa are struggling to keep their programs afloat. The challenge is to further capitalize on the attraction that people from developed countries have with gorillas (and other charismatic megafauna), while providing information about the realities on the ground. If gorilla conservation is to succeed, we must better understand and reconcile the relationships that everyone has with gorillas.

Martha M. Robbins

Other contributions:

Juichi Yamagiwa

James Byamukama and Stephen Asuma

Raymond Corbey

Colin Groves

Richard Johnstone-Scott

Kelly Stewart

Overview
 

Dr. Martha Robbins, a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, has been studying the behavioural ecology of gorillas for 14 years, for the past 6 years in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Gorillas in general - overview

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