The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is a critically endangered subspecies of the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla). It was named a new species in 1904 by Paul Matschie, a mammalian taxonomist working at the Humboldt University Zoological Museum in Berlin, but its populations were not systematically surveyed until 1987.
It is the most western and northern form of gorilla, and is restricted to the forested hills and mountains of the Cameroon-Nigeria border region at the headwaters of the Cross River. It is separated by about 300 km (190 mi) from the nearest population of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), and by around 250 km (160 mi) from the gorilla population in the Ebo Forest of Cameroon. Estimates from 2014 suggest that fewer than 250 mature Cross River gorillas remain, making them the world's rarest great ape. Groups of these gorillas concentrate their activities in 11 localities across a 12,000 km (4,600 sq mi) range, though recent field surveys confirmed the presence of gorillas outside of their known localities suggesting a wider distribution within this range. This distribution is supported by genetic research, which has found evidence that many Cross River gorilla localities continue to maintain contact through the occasional dispersal of individuals. In 2009, the Cross River gorilla was finally captured on professional video on a forested mountain in Cameroon.
