With all of the great apes endangered today, it is difficult to concentrate on one particular species without feeling as if you are neglecting the other species. But unfortunately there a few species that are of a particular high risk of becoming extinct.

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla, or Grauer's Gorilla, is at the top of the list of being on the brink of extinction.

Easterns are only found in Kahuzi Biega National Park in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Their biggest threat is from the rebels, miners, and refugees who are now spread out through the forests, as the protrated war has now reached 6 years. The mining of Coltan has exploded, and the resulting influx of people are killing off these forgotten species. Coltan is an ore used in computers, cell phones and game consoles (like Sony Playstations, etc). It is used to enable these devices to withstand higher levels of heat, as they become more powerful.
There is no monitoring or regulation of the mining of this ore, and it has created a state of lawlessness in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, a World heritage site.

With a drop of approximately 90% in their population since 1999, the current estimates indicate that there are only a few hundred of individuals left in the wild, and without immediate aid, will be lost forever very soon.

The Bonobo, or Pygmy Chimpanzee, is also severely close to becoming extinct.  Found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), these cousins of the chimpanzee are also threatened due to the protrated war in the DRC.

A detailed explantion of current developments surrounding the Bonobos is here : Dr. Kerry Boman's article on the crisis.

As well, Dr. Bowman worked on a Canadian-made documentary for CBC - The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, on the Bonobos and the people in the Congo.

The air date for this documentary was Oct 22, 2003 on "The Nature of Things" with David Suzuki. More here.