{"id":118684,"date":"2025-09-04T06:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:56:07","slug":"an-extraordinary-look-inside-the-home-of-some-of-the-worlds-last-mountain-gorillas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/118684\/","title":{"rendered":"An extraordinary look inside the home of some of the world\u2019s last mountain gorillas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Over the course of 18 years, photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer Brent Stirton\u00a0has made 13 trips to document the promise and peril of Virunga National Park. His images from in the park and in other wildlife refuges have been widely published, including on the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/photography\/article\/behind-the-cover-may-secrets-elephants-brent-stirton\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">cover of<\/a> National Geographic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In Virunga he\u2019s followed how, despite facing immense challenges, the park has persisted. Virunga has helped protect some of the world\u2019s few remaining mountain gorillas, a global population that contained as few as 300 individuals in 2007 and now numbers over a thousand. The park\u2019s leadership has also spearheaded initiatives to create sustainable hydroelectric power and <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/virunga.org\/sustainable-agriculture\/\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">small-scale farms<\/a> that give the local community financial\u00a0alternatives to extractive industries like mining and charcoal production.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">To honor a hundred years of the park\u2019s resilience, Stirton has created a photo book featuring images taken inside Virunga\u2019s borders. They show some of Stirton\u2019s most moving images from the park: a processional for a mortally wounded silverback gorilla, the powerful bond between an orphaned mountain gorilla and her caretaker, the human toll of political conflict, and the grit it takes to advocate for conservation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Stirton\u2019s book will be available online starting September 1, 2025 and can be ordered <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.collectiondesphotographes.com\/virunga-de-brent-stirton-visa-pour-l-image.html\" target=\"_blank\" dir=\"ltr\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the course of 18 years, photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer Brent Stirton\u00a0has made 13 trips to document&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-118684","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}