FLORA AND FAUNA
Uganda offers scheme to 'befriend' mountain gorillas on Facebook

Online users will be able to watch live footage of their "friends" eating and trekking through the thick terrain.
by Staff Writers
 Kampala (AFP) Aug 31, 2009
 Users of the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter will be able to "befriend" rare Ugandan mountain gorillas and track their movements, a Wildlife Authority spokeswoman said Monday.

In a scheme designed to promote Uganda's nascent tourism industry, users will receive regular updates about their endangered primate friends, Lillian Nsubuga told AFP.

"Through geo-tracking and GPS, you'll be able to get information about new births within the family and other information," she said, referring to a programme that will launch online next month.

Wildlife officials also plan to install cameras around Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to roughly half of the world's estimated 740 mountain gorillas, one of most endangered species on the planet.

Online users will be able to watch live footage of their "friends" eating and trekking through the thick terrain.

Mountain gorillas, who were famously brought to the world's attention by the late Dian Fossey, are one of Uganda's main tourist attractions and can only be found in two other countries, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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