You may have heard that gorillas live in Africa, but where in Africa?

Here is a distribution map published recently, on February 28th. The paper is titled “Exposure of African ape sites to climate change impacts” and examines how climate change is going to affect African apes.

“Exposure of African ape sites to climate change impacts” (February 28, 2024)
The map is here.

In addition to gorillas, chimpanzee and bonobo sites are also included, with a total of 333 sites shown in gray.

The areas surrounded by thick lines indicate habitats, as follows:

Red: G.b.beringei (mountain gorilla)
Green: G.b.graueri (eastern lowland gorilla)
Purple: G.g.diehli (cross river gorilla)
Blue-green: G.g.gorilla (western lowland gorilla)

Looking at this, you can see that mountain gorillas only live aorund the borders of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

・Eastern lowland gorillas are only found in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

・Cross River gorillas are found around the border between Nigeria and Cameroon.

・Western lowland gorillas are found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea.

Roughly speaking, they are only found around the center of the African continent.