Elusive Cross River gorilla caught on film

For a better quality video visit the BBC website (video courtesy of NDR Naturfilm)

Rare Cross River gorilla filmed
By Matt Walker
from BBC news

Rare footage has been taken of an elusive and critically endangered type of gorilla.
Film of the formerly camera-shy Cross River gorilla was captured in the forests of Cameroon by a team from Hamburg-based NDR Naturfilm. The team says it is the first professionally shot film of the gorilla taken, and the animal has only once before been caught on camera. Fewer than 300 Cross River gorillas, a western gorilla subspecies, remain. According to the World Conservation Society (WCS), which supported the expedition to film the ape, the only previous footage available of Cross River gorillas was taken by a field researcher using a shaky, hand-held camera and from a long distance in 2005.

"These gorillas are extremely wary of humans and are very difficult to photograph or film," says Dr. Roger Fotso, Director of WCS-Cameroon. "Eventually, we identified and staked out some of the gorillas' favourite fig trees, which is where we finally achieved our goal." Cross River gorillas live in roughly 11 subgroups, dispersed among highland areas along the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. They are one of a number of subspecies of gorilla. Cross River gorillas belong to the same species as western lowland gorillas, but differ in the dimensions of their skulls and teeth.