Editor’s note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series dedicated to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet and their solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative has partnered with CNN to promote awareness and education on key sustainability issues and inspire positive action.
Fog hangs low on the slopes of the dense forests of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains. The entire group of gorillas remained motionless, with a heavy atmosphere surrounding them. At their center is Inyange, who still bears the lingering reverberations of unimaginable loss.
Her firstborn died as a result of a vicious attack by an exiled gorilla.
In “The Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough,” the filmmakers capture the aftermath of the tragedy and how it silently affects the group.
Scenes like this are rarely seen up close, but they are instantly recognizable and feel like they reflect something deeply human. It reminds us how much we have in common.
“We share about 98 percent of our DNA with gorillas,” says Tara Stoinski, CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting gorillas and their forest ecosystems.
She says we also share many behavioral traits with gorillas, including lifelong bonds, caring for vulnerable people, and rallying around a grieving mother.
The film captures rare social dynamics, including a dramatic and unexpected two-year battle for supremacy between the silverbacks Ubuzuzu and Jikurashi, and depicts how a group of multiple male mountain gorillas share leadership and how stable male alliances contribute to the group’s success.
These discoveries are only possible because the endangered mountain gorilla family survives and, conversely, their numbers are slowly increasing again.
Mountain gorillas live only in highland forests of East Africa within Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The Gorilla Story” tracks the population of the Virunga region of Rwanda. The population has rebounded from about 250 in the 1980s to about 600 today.
They are one of the only great apes whose numbers are increasing, with the total population in Africa now exceeding 1,000 individuals.
Their recovery is often hailed as a rare conservation victory, built on decades of intensive conservation, scientific research, and close collaboration with local communities.
Its success can be traced back to a determined presence in the woods, American primatologist Diane Master.
My master conducted research on mountain gorillas in Rwanda in 1967. She discovered a population under immediate threat from poaching and habitat pressure, and feared the population would disappear within a few decades. She moved from observation to action, pioneering a hands-on approach to conservation that involves protecting forests on a daily basis, from removing traps to deterring poachers.
She was murdered there in 1985, but the influence of her work continues. By revealing the complexity and gentleness of this long-misunderstood species, we are helping to change the way we think about mountain gorillas.
“When she started, I think the image of gorillas was King Kong and beasts of prey. She changed the public perception by integrating into gorilla society and telling the story of the gorilla family,” Stoinski said.
About ten years after his master’s studies, the famous naturalist Attenborough filmed part of his “Life on Earth” series at an outpost in Rwanda. There he met a three-year-old gorilla named Pablo, who playfully leaned over him. This spontaneous and iconic scene helped raise global awareness of the declining mountain gorilla population.
Attenborough, now 99, describes that moment as one of the most exciting encounters of his life, and says in The Gorilla Story that he was forced to revisit the gorilla family some 50 years later.
“This connection has been with me all my life,” Attenborough said in the film. “This is one of the greatest conservation success stories I’ve witnessed, perhaps because of the deep connection people feel to gorillas.”
Pablo eventually broke away in 1993 to form his own group, which became the largest mountain gorilla family ever recorded in the wild. At its peak, the Pablo Group numbered 65 gorillas.
They are one of the most closely studied mountain gorilla families today, with nearly 60 years of monitoring that began with their master’s groundbreaking research in the 1960s on Pablo’s Birth Family: Group 5.
Filmed over two years in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, Gorilla Story follows the modern-day descendants of the historic Pablo group, capturing the social dynamics, shifting alliances, and quiet negotiations that shape life within the group.
Stoinski said the Dian Fosse Gorilla Foundation was involved throughout filming, serving as a scientific advisor who identified key characters, provided historical context, and interpreted their actions in the field.
According to director Stoinski, while it is unusual to witness the transfer of patriarchal power from Ubwiz to Gikurashi, the film reveals the influence of often overlooked women such as Teta, whose strategic shifts in allegiance and role in integrating newcomer Inyange reveal complex social strategies and support networks within gorilla society.
Stoinski said long-term data reveals that these particular gorillas always have groups led by multiple adult males. They also found that about half of the males leave their natal group to form new families.
Currently, more than half of the organization’s 200 Rwandan staff are in the forest every day monitoring the gorillas. Other organizations are working on the ground as well, such as Gorilla Doctor, which provides veterinary care to protect these creatures.
Conservation efforts go beyond protecting gorillas and focus on issues such as climate change, sustainable development and habitat conservation, Stoinski said. The organization has conducted more than 30 studies on the broader biodiversity of plants and other animals in the region to assess ecosystem health, and is training African scientists in field methods and monitoring, she added.
The rugged terrain of the Virunga Mountains makes their habitat feel remote, but in many ways that’s not the case, Stoinski said. “It’s right on the edge of the forest, in one of the most densely populated parts of rural Africa, and there’s no buffer zone.”
“You have humans, you have small walls, you have forests, and the gorillas are basically trapped on top of these six volcanoes,” she added.
Low stone walls act as a physical boundary between adjacent farmland and forest, preventing animals from encroaching on crops and reducing human-wildlife conflict.
Because of their close proximity, community integration is essential for conservation. Diane Master Gorilla Foundation partners with local communities to improve food and water security, education, and alternative livelihoods to reduce people’s dependence on forest resources.
Stoinski says conservation only works if it works for the entire ecosystem, including humans.
Ecotourism is also an important driver of conservation. Ten percent of the revenue from government gorilla trekking permits is distributed to surrounding communities, creating an economic incentive to protect gorillas and their habitat.
Mountain gorillas remain endangered and highly dependent on conservation, with the only significant threat coming from humans, including habitat pressure and traps placed on other wildlife.
“They don’t really have any natural enemies, and the reason these animals are at risk is because of our actions,” Stoinski says.
She hopes the film will inspire compassion for these mountain giants.
“Just looking at our similarities shows how important it is for us to preserve them in the long term,” Stoinski says. “They are one of the most endangered species on the planet,” she added.
Protecting gorillas doesn’t just save a single species, it also protects an entire ecosystem that is critical to life on Earth.
“These forests are the lungs of the planet, and by protecting the gorillas who care for them, we are also helping ourselves,” Stoinski says.
“The Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough” is available on Netflix.
#Fragile #comeback #David #Attenboroughs #gorilla #story #reveals #rare #conservation #success #CNN