Congo established gorilla sanctuary

The Republic of Congo has just established a national park with the goal of preserving the gorillas - the country's rare primate. It is also home to some of the red-listed animals.

Ntokou-Pikounda National Park is about 4,572 km ² wide, established by the government. Among them are about 15,000 gorillas, 8,000 elephants and 950 chimpanzees, two of which are threatened by deforestation.

Western gorillas are at risk of extinction - (Photo: LiveScience)

According to the 2008 statistics of the Wildlife Conservation Association (WCS), the number of gorillas is about 125,000, tending to decrease. After this survey, the Congolese Government pledged to establish a park to protect rare and precious gorillas.

Cristián Samper, WCS director, said: 'The Republic of Congo will become the conservation of the largest number of monkeys on the planet'.

Gorillas distributed throughout Central Africa, are facing threats from deforestation and hunting and killing of illegal animals.

Western gorillas are one of four gorilla subspecies, including mountain gorillas, plain eastern gorillas and Cross River gorillas (the world's rarest humanoid gorilla). Gorillas in the eastern plains are endangered species, while the remaining three species are in extremely critical condition.