Hormones, Behavior, and Environment in Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas (2009-2020)

About

Rwanda’s fabled mountain gorillas have faced a number of conservation challenges. Habitat loss, poaching and human conflict have all impacted these majestic apes, which are native to the Virunga mountains.

Lincoln Park Zoo is working with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International to study the relationship between mountain gorilla stress levels, environmental pressures, and anthropogenic (human-caused) disturbance. Researchers are evaluating how the last two factors impact the health of the region’s famous gorillas, as well as examining how hormones and social behavior interact in order to better understand the evolutionary history not only of gorillas, but also of humans.

Over the course of the project, more than 18,000 samples were sent from Rwanda to Lincoln Park Zoo’s endocrinology lab. The resulting data helped scientists in the field better conserve this complex social species.