NAIROBI, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Rangers in Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday arrested two men with a dead mountain gorilla near Virunga National park amid fears over the fate of the endangered species, an official said.

The suspected traffickers were seized with the female infant gorilla around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the edge of the park, where renewed fighting has blocked rangers from tracking 72 gorillas, said Samantha Newport, spokeswoman for Wildlife Direct.

NAIROBI, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - Efforts to track endangered mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic Congo have been stalled by renewed fighting in the volatile east, an official said Monday.

Since fighting erupted last month between the army and forces loyal to cashiered general Laurent Nkunda, rangers' efforts to track the rare species have been paralysed, said Samantha Newport, spokeswoman for Wildlife Direct.

NAIROBI, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Conservationists on Thursday raised alarm after Democratic Republic of Congo army and renegade troops blocked rangers from searching for critically endangered mountain gorillas, an official said.

Although a fragile ceasefire was holding, regular soldiers and troops loyal to cashiered Congolese general Laurent Nkunda had blocked rangers from searching for 75 rare gorillas, said Samantha Newport, spokeswoman for Wildlife Direct.

NAIROBI, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Renewed fighting between the army and renegade troops in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo poses a fresh threat to critically endangered mountain gorillas, experts said Sunday.

A resurgence in clashes between regular soldiers and troops loyal to cashiered Congolese general Laurent Nkunda has forced rangers to flee the Virunga National Park, the gorillas' habitat, officials said.

NAIROBI, Sept 9, 2007 (AFP) - Renewed fighting between the army and renegade troops in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo poses a fresh threat to critically endangered mountain gorillas, experts said Sunday.

A resurgence in clashes between regular soldiers and troops loyal to cashiered Congolese general Laurent Nkunda has forced rangers to flee the Virunga National Park, the gorillas' habitat, officials said.

NAIROBI, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Park rangers on Friday searched for endangered mountain gorillas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo amid reports of fresh clashes between the army and renegade troops, an official said.

Wildlife Direct spokeswoman Samantha Newport said the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) rangers were combing the Virunga National Park in search of 50 gorillas in four family groups.

NAIROBI, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Park rangers on Friday searched for endangered mountain gorillas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after army and renegade troops agreed to halt hostilities, an official said.

Wildlife Direct spokeswoman Samantha Newport said the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) rangers were combing the Virunga National Park in search of 50 gorillas in four family groups.

NAIROBI, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - Highly endangered mountain gorillas in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo faced fresh dangers Monday after renegade troops overran their habitat, forcing rangers to flee, conservationists warned.

Forces loyal to cashiered general Laurent Nkunda, a powerful local leader, attacked Jomba and Bikenge patrol posts in Virunga National Park, Wildlife Direct said in a statement.

PARIS, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Ten million-year-old fossils discovered in Ethiopia show that humans and apes probably split six or seven million years earlier than widely thought, according to landmark study released Wednesday.

The handful of teeth from the earliest direct ancestors of modern gorillas ever found -- one canine and eight molars -- also leave virtually no doubt, the study's authors and experts said, that both humans and modern apes did indeed originate from Africa.

NAIROBI, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - A mountain gorilla was born in the Democratic republic of Congo's Virunga park Tuesday, an important event for the endangered species' survival following the recent killings of five silverbacks.

'The birth yesterday is seen as a key step toward the survival of this critically endangered species,' the Wildlife Direct conservationist organisation said in a statement on Wednesday.