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Source: ONE News
Lurking deep in the mist-glazed forests of east Africa, Uganda's mountain gorillas are preparing to 'tweet' for their survival.
With the launch on Saturday of the Friend a Gorilla campaign, human fans will soon be able to follow the everyday drama of one of the few remaining 720 mountain gorillas online, far from the red ants, mud and tropical rain of their habitats.
When the friendagorilla.org site goes live, users will be able to access videos, pictures and rangers' blogs through websites like Facebook and Twitter, says Moses Mapesa Wafula, head of the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA).
They will also be able to follow their new friends via satellite tracking.
"By paying one dollar to Friend a Gorilla, everybody contributes to the conservation of this species," Wafula says.
Not everybody can afford the $US500 price tag for a real gorilla trek.
But the fibre-optic tentacles of globalisation will make it possible for anyone to watch a mother grooming her children, juvenile males fighting for dominance or even feel the rush of being charged by a 225 kg silverback male.
Tourist receipts represent Uganda's second largest foreign exchange earner.
Organisers say the campaign is the first time social networking has been harnessed for conservation and hope it will generate $US100,000 in the first three months and a further $US350,000 within the first year.
Drafted in to help publicise the campaign, actor Jason Biggs, star of the American Pie comedies, says gazing into the eyes of a gorilla was like meeting an old friend.
"It was pretty surreal. I felt like when I made eye contact with the gorillas, it was like an out-of-body experience," Biggs said after a face to face encounter with one of the gorillas at Bwindi.
"It was mind-blowing."
With around 370 mountain gorillas, Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park plays host to roughly half the global population, with the remainder scattered across volcanoes in nearby Rwanda and the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo.
UWA staff say the gorilla's habitat is threatened by illegal logging for charcoal, timber and agriculture and they are also poached for bush meat.
Although the gorillas remain endangered, UWA has registered growth rates of 12%, with the gorilla population doubling over the last 25 years.
