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Gorilla


Medium: Drawing and acrylic paints on watercolor paper
Size: 41.5x29.5 inches
Year 2007

The DNA of gorillas is 97%–98% identical to that of a human.

Both species of gorilla are endangered, and have been subject to intense poaching for a long time. Threats to gorilla survival include habitat destruction and the bushmeat trade. In 2004 a population of several hundred gorillas in the Odzala National Park, Republic of Congo was essentially wiped out by the Ebola virus. A 2006 study published in Science concluded that more than 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa. The researchers indicated that in conjunction with commercial hunting of these apes creates "a recipe for rapid ecological extinction".



© Copyright drew Struzan 2007