You may remember that in 2019, a funny selfie of a gorilla went viral all over the world:
At that time, the patrol officer of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo took out his mobile phone to take a selfie, and two female gorillas began to imitate his concave shape with understanding, and the posture and expression were the same as those of humans, which made people can't help but be funny...
At that time, the two gorillas were once popular on the Internet, but they quickly disappeared, and people did not even have time to know their details.
Just two days ago, the Virunga National Park once again spread the news of them, and unfortunately, this time it was bad news:
The female gorilla named Ndakasi in "Selfie Gorillas" died on September 26, and the 14-year-old swallowed her last breath and lay in the arms of Andre Bauma, the patrol member who personally rescued her...
The death of Ndakasi has once again aroused the attention of the Virunga mountain gorillas.
Ndakasi's short life has witnessed the difficult survival of the Virunga mountain gorilla population, witnessed the "mountain gorilla revival miracle" that the local patrol has exchanged for blood and life...
Mountain gorillas are one of two subspecies of eastern gorillas, mainly found in the Virunga Mountains of Central Africa, most of which are in congo.
Mountain gorillas look strong and rugged, large in size, but they are peaceful herbivorous primates known as "gentle giants".
Unfortunately, in the last two decades, this group of "gentle giants" has been destroyed as never before.
As a result of the perennial civil war in Congo, armed poachers brutally slaughtered mountain gorilla populations in order to reap huge profits.
Mountain gorillas have declined dramatically and were once defined as "critically endangered" populations by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
In 2007, Dkasi, a baby gorilla just two months old, witnessed the slaughter of armed poachers in his gorilla colony.
Ndakasi's mother was shot and died, and the young woman lay shivering on her stomach, which had no vital signs.
Later, anti-poaching patrols in Virunga Park found Ndakasi and decided to take it back to the conservation center to raise it.
A patrol member picked up Ndakasi from his mother's body and took her back to the Senkwekwe Mountain Gorilla Center in Virunga Park.
This patrolman was None other than Andre Bauma, who would later guard Ndakasi's life.
On the first night at the conservation center, Ndakasi trembled with fear, and Bauma held Ndakasi tightly in her arms, letting it feel the heartbeat and temperature in her chest, helping it survive the difficult first night.
The conservation center originally intended to release Ndakasi back into nature after being reared for a period of time.
But a few years later the Conservation Center assessed that the massacre had caused great psychological trauma to Ndakasi.
Ndakasi is too fragile to return to nature and remains in captivity at the conservation center for the rest of her life.
Fortunately, Ndakasi is not alone, there are other orphaned gorillas like her, one of whom is a female gorilla named Ndeze, who soon became Ndakasi's best girlfriend, and also took selfies with him many years later all over the world...
The massacre of Ndakasi left a lifelong shadow, but it was also because of that massacre that it eventually attracted international attention and prompted Congolese officials to come up with effective measures:
They decided to expand their patrols and increase their protection of the Virunga mountain gorillas.
Since then, the patrol has received more manpower and material support and began to recruit local villagers in large numbers, and after rigorous training, they entered the patrol.
Since 2007, about 600 patrols have joined the team to protect gorillas.
It was also from that time that the population of Virunga mountain gorillas began to increase year by year.
Ndakasi grew up in the conservation center, it is docile, kind to the patrol of the protection center, the staff get along very well, is a warm girl,
Over time, it gradually became the image representative of the Virunga mountain gorilla.
In 2014, the documentary "Virunga" about the protection of virunga mountain gorillas was released, which mainly recorded the story of the anti-poaching patrol team fighting with armed poachers to protect the gorillas with their lives during the Congolese civil war in Virunga National Park, which happens to be the center of the civil war.
In this film, Ndakasi is one of the main gorilla actors who appear in the film, and its nanny, patrolman and keeper Bauma is also the main character in the documentary.
After the film was released, it caused a huge sensation, and the conservation center also received more international attention and received unprecedented human and material support.
Although the documentary is popular, the reserve has also received unprecedented attention,
But Ndakasi's wild companions still face a great threat from armed poachers.
The death of patrols in armed conflict is still playing out year by year...
In 2016, a local poaching force called Mai-Mai launched an attack on the Gorilla Sanctuary in Virunga National Park, and patrol member Patrick Muhayirwa, who was killed in the battle, was only 26 years old...
In 2017, three patrols died defending the Mountain Gorilla Sanctuary...
In 2018, a patrol squad was ambushed and 5 members of the team and 1 driver were killed...
In January 2021, 12 patrol members and 5 local villagers died in clashes with armed poachers, making it the worst violent incident in the history of Virunga National Park...
These tragic sacrifices were not in vain, they were exchanged for a substantial recovery in the number of mountain gorillas, from 2007 to 2021, the number of virunga mountain gorillas increased from 720 to 1063, an increase of 47%.
In 2018, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species changed the mountain gorilla from "critically endangered" to "endangered", which is a big achievement.
These achievements are the result of countless Bauma-like patrols, staff, and brave hardships and sacrifices.
You know, of the 600 patrols in Virunga over the past two decades, 179 have given their lives to protect wildlife...
In 2019, Weilong increased the "image endorsement of the ape", the female gorilla Ndakasi and her girlfriend Ndeze, together with the photo of imitating the concave shape of the human selfie, spread all over the world, which aroused the attention of the global melon eating masses at the same time, but also let people feel the warm side behind the dangerous gorilla protection work.
Time passed, and Ndakasi lived for almost a decade under the meticulous care of the conservation center Bauma.
This beautiful relationship between people and gorillas came to an abrupt end a few weeks ago.
Ndakasi contracted a chronic disease in previous years, and not long ago his physical condition deteriorated sharply, eventually becoming terminally ill.
At the last moment, Ndakasi calmly left the world in the arms of Bauma, who had saved it, ending its fourteen-year short life, and the scene of parting touched those present and the world...
After Ndakasi's death, Bauma, who accompanied him throughout his life, lamented:
"Ndakasi has a wonderful personality, a brilliant mind, and it is it that has helped me to understand more deeply the connection between humans and gorillas, and it has also given us a deeper understanding of why we are doing our best to protect mountain gorillas."
"I am proud to call Ndakasi my friend, like my child, and like a lovely companion, and everyone in the conservation center will always miss the joy that Ndakasi brought us."