Climate change could ‘raise stress levels’ of endangered mountain gorillas

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Global warming could cause stress to endangered Virunga mountain gorillas, potentially raising the risk of health problems and early death, a new study suggests.

Using fecal samples taken in the wild, researchers found that Virunga gorillas show elevated stress levels in months with higher-than-average temperatures and rainfall.

This suggests that Virunga gorillas “might be more sensitive to warming trends than previous research has suggested”, the authors write in their research paper.

The findings provide “robust” evidence of how climate change could heighten the animals’ stress levels, a primatologist tells Carbon Brief. “We don’t know yet what the long-term impact of this physiological response will be, but it could be a harbinger of reduced survival or fertility.”