A bowed stringed instrument of home parks in Africa are temporarily close as a precautionary cadence to protect their gorillas and other non - human primate from the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak .
The National Agency for National Parks in Gabon , whose extensive park system is home to thousands of westerly lowland gorillas , also take up similar action earlier this calendar month , saying“respiratory viruses that affect humans are well transmitted to great apes . ”
Citing similar worries , Rwanda is also shut down touristry and ending research activeness in three interior Rosa Parks that are home to Gorilla gorilla and chimpanzees , according to theAssociated Press .
There have not yet been any love cases of a wild Gorilla gorilla , nor any other non - human nifty ape , cut an contagion from the novel coronavirus ( SARS - CoV2 ) . However , it ’s well - established that gorillas and other member of our heavy ape family can “ catch a cold ” and other respiratory malady from homo .
A 2008 studyfound the “ first direct evidence of virus transmission system from humankind to wild apes ” and reason that disease transmitting could be aiding the rapid decline of great apes . In this casing , the infection was not because of a coronavirus , but two common human paramyxoviruses .
Furthermore , scientist have actively infected monkeys with the new coronavirus ( SARS - CoV2 ) in a bidding to gain a better understanding of the virus and its infection . Researchersfrom the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan Institute of Virology infect rhesus macaque with SAR - CoV-2 and found they modernise a “ mild respiratory disease , ” reporting in a yet - to - be peer - reviewed paper ( PDF ) . Although they did not develop fever or any serious symptoms , their lungs demonstrate signs of pneumonia , like to some COVID-19 infections in humans .
establish on the limited scientific evidence on the subject , the move to shut down home parks that are home plate to great apes is a precautionary measure . However , it ’s simply not worth the risk , specially when it relate rare and endangered species .
Mountain gorillas , one of the two race of the eastern gorilla , are incredibly vulnerable as it stands . There are thought to be less than 1,000 individuals left in the wild , and they can only be found in two stray populations : one in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park of Uganda and the other in the Virunga Mountains , a range of extinct volcanoes that border the Democratic Republic of Congo , Rwanda , and Uganda .
Already threaten by poaching , death of habitat , and pollution , the last matter these guy postulate is a nasty new viral transmission .
