It’s hard not to love this photo of Mathieu Shamavu, a caretaker at Virunga National Park who is like family to the “posing” gorillas pictured here, Ndakazi and Ndeze, a pair of young females whose parents were killed by poachers. Thanks to the special care shown them by the rangers at the Virunga National Park’s mountain gorilla orphanage in the Congo, these gorillas felt “cheeky” enough to join in the selfie fun. “I’m still close to them and they feel good,” Shamavu told The Dodo. This is not a job for the faint of heart — rangers at Virunga are at risk from both the wildlife and the poachers — five rangers were killed on the job last year alone, and another died in March after sustaining serious injuries from a hippo, the park said on its website. Check out all the photos of the rangers and gorillas, and so much more, on the Park’s Instagram site here.
What You Can Do: Support the work at Virunga – learn more at their website by clicking here.
April 24, 2019 » #gorillaselfie, gorillas, mountain gorillas, Virunga National Park, wildlife conservation
