Quick answer
Mountain gorillas live only in Virunga (Rwanda, Uganda, DRC) and Bwindi (Uganda) — montane and bamboo cloud forest. About 1,000-plus is a planning figure, not a weekly headcount. IUCN: Endangered. Figures checked 13 August 2026.
Virunga and Bwindi — is that the whole map?
Yes for wild mountain gorillas. Montane and bamboo forest at about 2,200–4,300 m. “Cloud forest at elevation” without naming the two blocks was the thin version of this page. A zoo enclosure is not a third range state.
What microhabitats do they use?
Bamboo stands, herbaceous clearings, and night nests built fresh each evening. Farm edges are snare and disease country, not preferred habitat. Suburbs are not gorilla range.
How do people shrink the map?
Encroachment, snares set for antelope, unrest, and respiratory viruses from close tourism. Two forests is still a trap. This is not a suburban-wildlife story.
What does Endangered geography require?
Patrols that stay funded and tourism rules that keep people back. Watch from the distance rangers set; never feed. The rebound does not lift eastern gorillas as a species off Critically Endangered, because Grauer’s gorillas are still collapsing.
Does forage lock the map?
Yes. Folivores cannot commute to lowland fruit. Bamboo and herbs at elevation are the whole pantry. Climate-driven habitat shifts still matter on a two-block map.
Did recovery finish the map?
No. Numbers passed 1,000 after anti-poaching, veterinary care and tightly ruled tourism — a planning figure, not a finished range. WARN’s country programmes fund partner veterinary and rescue work in East Africa — not an orangutan appeal.
Sources
Mountain Gorilla FAQs
Where do mountain gorillas live?
Only two highland blocks: the Virunga volcanoes (Rwanda, Uganda, DRC) and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Montane and bamboo cloud forest at about 2,200–4,300 m. They are Gorilla beringei beringei — not western gorillas, not an Asian ape. IUCN: Endangered subspecies. Figures checked 13 August 2026.
Do mountain gorillas live in the same places as western gorillas?
No. Western gorillas occupy Congo Basin lowland forest hundreds of kilometres west. A Volcanoes National Park permit does not protect Gabon. Mixing the pins mixes the threats and the diet.
How many mountain gorillas are left on that map?
About 1,000-plus across Virunga and Bwindi after census recoveries — a planning figure, not a weekly headcount. Virunga numbers fell to roughly 250 in the early 1980s; the wider subspecies was under 620. The rebound is real, tiny, and conservation-dependent.
What actually protects mountain gorilla range?
Anti-snare patrols, veterinary care, and tightly ruled tourism that funds rangers without packing viruses into the group. World Animal Rescue Network funds partner work via country programmes — not an orangutan appeal.
Who this page is for.This page is native range and habitat, not a sighting hotline.