How People Can Change a Habitat for Worse,

and for Better By

Alec Burns

The natural habitat of Mountain Gorillas is found in 3 African countries. 1. Democratic

Republic of the Congo

2. Uganda3. Rwanda

They live in dense rainforest. They build beds like hammocks high in the treetops for safety from predators like leopards and, worst of all, people.

Threats to Mountain Gorilla Habitats

Over time, human activity is leaving less and less habitat for mountain gorillas.

Threats to Mountain Gorilla Habitats

Tree Cutting

Threats to Mountain Gorilla Habitats

Wild Fires

Threats to Mountain Gorilla Habitats

Poaching

Threats to Mountain Gorilla Habitats

Mining

These changes to the mountain gorilla's habitat put it on the endangered species list.

These are types of change that occur naturally, or because of people.

Today, there are only 720 mountain gorilla's left in the wild.They live in four national parks located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

720

DO YOU KNOW HOW CELL PHONES HURT MOUNTAIN GORILLAS?

Coltan is a metal that is very important for making the

circuit boards of cell phones but it also can be used in other

electronics like ipads, laptops , xboxes and many more.

Coltan

Circuit board

The red oval shows the area where coltan is mined.

The green areas show where the four national parks are.

80% of coltan is found in Africa, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

As you can see this is what a coltan mine does to the mountain gorilla’s habitat. There used to be so much vegetation but the coltan mine has left none.

Coltan is so valuable, they are having wars in the Congo to own it and make money. In this particular type of mine they put children to work instead of men.

Before…

After…

Dense vegetation

Dense vegetation gone

Millions of people died in these wars. The destruction from the war has left the people starving and that has lead to the trapping of mountain gorillas and other wild animals for food.The picture on the right shows some people who just killed a mountain gorilla and will soon eat or sell the meat.

WHAT’S ONE WAY WE CAN ALL HELP TO STOP MOUNTAIN GORILLAS FROM

BECOMING EXTINCT?

Fact: 100 million cell phones are

thrown away every year, just

in America alone.

100,000,000

If you recycle your old cell

phone, you can help save the species of the

mountain gorilla bit by bit.

As you can see, we don’t recycle cell phones as much as other

stuff.

Where Can We Recycle Cell Phones?

Isn’t this a face worth saving?