Ebola wipes out great apes

Thousands of people have died so far in one of the largest ever Ebola outbreaks in Western Africa. But for some of humanity's closest relatives - gorillas and chimpanzees - the impact of the virus has been even more dramatic.

Among these great apes mortality rates from Ebola may be reaching 90 percent in some populations, #link:http://theconversation.com/chimps-and-gorillas-desperately-need-ebola-vaccine-too-virus-has-wiped-out-a-third-of-them-35503:writes Meera Inglis# who works on conservation policy at the University of Sheffield. And, with the focus on the human tragedy, there are little or no medical resources to treat the animals.

She suggests that up to a third of the world's gorillas and chimpanzees may have died from Ebola over the last two decades. Although that estimate has been disputed by others.

In any case, the virus seems to have had an immediate and deadly impact on the great ape populations. It is something humans are unable to do anything about currently. But we can deal with what is arguably the biggest killer of gorillas and chimpanzees: poaching by humans.