Sept. 24 is observed as World Gorilla Day. It was launched in 2017 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of a Rwanda-based gorilla study center founded by Dian Fossey, the American primatologist and conservationist who gained global renown for her research.
The gorillas Fossey studied and looked after were mountain gorillas that belong to the species known as the eastern gorilla and live mostly in the Virunga Massif, a mountainous area encompassing parts of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The second species, known as the western gorilla, inhabits areas of west and central Africa.
