Scientific discovery of the mountain gorilla
Descubrimiento científico del gorila de montaña
- Date
- 17 de octubre de 1902 · confidence high
- Place
- Mount Sabyinyo, Musanze, Rwanda
- Credited to
- Robert von Beringe (capture) and Paul Matschie (description)
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Two gorillas shot on the Virunga volcanoes by a German expedition were sent to Berlin and described in 1903 as Gorilla beringei. They gave a scientific name to the mountain gorillas, now critically endangered.
Local peoples already knew the gorillas; for Western science the date is that of Beringe's hunt. The area is tripartite (Rwanda, Uganda and the DR Congo) and the exact location is unknown.
What it led to
- field research by George Schaller and Dian Fossey
- gorilla ecotourism as a conservation model
- taxonomy of the eastern gorillas