Lulingu

Eastern Lowland gorillas face extinction in the wild, with fewer than 5,000 left in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Lulingu was born into this precarious world on 11 June 2026, somewhere in the Congolese wilderness where her subspecies clings to survival.

Rescued from the wild as an infant, she first arrived at Rehabilitation des Primates de Lwiro on 29 February 2016. Her stay there lasted only a few days before she was transferred to Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education on 2 March 2016, where she remains today.

Her subspecies, Grauer’s gorilla, carries the grim distinction of being listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Born to wild parents she will likely never see again, she represents both the tragedy of habitat destruction and the hope that conservation efforts can preserve her kind for future generations.