Is Virunga a true story?

VIRUNGA is the incredible true story of a group of brave people risking their lives to build a better future in a part of Africa the world’s forgotten and a gripping expose of the realities of life in the Congo.

How many gorillas are left in the Virunga National Park?

1,000 remaining
There are an estimated 1,000 remaining mountain gorillas in the wild, one third of which live in the Virunga mountains. Despite extensive conservation measures, these great apes are under threat from human activity. Illegal mining constantly encroaches upon their habitat.

Is Soco still in Virunga?

UK oil company Soco has ended its oil exploration operations in Virunga.

Is Mt Mukenko real?

Mount Mikeno lies completely within Virunga National Park and is known for the critically endangered mountain gorillas that live on its slopes….

Mount Mikeno
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption Pleistocene

What countries border the Virunga Mountains?

The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift Mountains, which border the western branch of the East African Rift. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu….

Virunga Mountains
Countries Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda

When did Virunga take place?

It focuses on the conservation work of park rangers within the Congo’s Virunga National Park during the rise of the violent M23 Rebellion in 2012 and investigates the activity of the British oil company Soco International within the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Do gorillas eat meat?

Gorillas stick to a mainly vegetarian diet, feeding on stems, bamboo shoots and fruits. Western lowland gorillas, however, also have an appetite for termites and ants, and break open termite nests to eat the larvae.

How many silverback gorillas are left in the world 2022?

There are only around 1000 of these magnificent creatures left in the world with around 1/3 of those in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

What is Soco now called?

Pharos Energy Plc, previously SOCO International, is an oil and gas exploitation and production company, headquartered in London. The company changed its name to Pharos Energy Plc in October 2019 after coming under fire for illegal activity in Virunga.

Is there a GREY gorilla?

Why Animals Get Gray Hair, Too. A silverback mountain gorilla stands watch in Rwanda. All mountain gorillas that live long enough turn gray, but not all become dominant.

Did they use real gorillas in the movie Congo?

For the most part, and despite some extraordinary accents from Hudson and Curry, the human cast were largely upstaged by Amy and the film’s various other gorillas. “Most movie gorillas have human eyes,” Marshall enthused of his film’s apes, “but we used a real mountain gorilla’s skull and duplicate eyes.”

What is the old name of the Virunga National Park?

Virunga National Park. The Virunga National Park ( French: Parc National des Virunga ), formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7,800 km 2 (3,000 sq mi) National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the south to the Rwenzori Mountains in the north, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,…

What is the PMID of the Virunga mountain gorilla?

PMID 21470468. ^ Kalpers, J.; Williamson, E.A.; Robbins, M.M.; McNeilage, A.; Nzamurambaho, A.; Lola, N.; Mugiri, G. (2003). “Gorillas in the crossfire: Population dynamics of the Virunga mountain gorillas over the past three decades”.

What does Virunga mean in Kinyarwanda?

The name “Virunga” is an English version of the Kinyarwanda word ibirunga, which means “volcanoes”. The mountain range consists of eight major volcanoes. Most of them are dormant, except Mount Nyiragongo 3,462 metres (11,358 ft) and Mount Nyamuragira 3,063 metres (10,049 ft), both in the DRC. Recent eruptions occurred in 2006, 2010 and May 2021.

How many gorillas are there in Virunga?

The 2003 census had estimated the Virunga gorilla population to be 380 individuals, which represented a 17% increase in the total population since 1989, when there were 320 individuals. The population has almost doubled since its lowest point in 1981, when a census estimated that only 254 gorillas remained.