Magdalena Bermejo

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Magdalena (Magda) Bermejo (born c. 1962) is a Spanish

Republic of Congo.[1]

Career

Bermejo grew up in Madrid. She began her career as a child psychologist and later as a primatologist.[2] Sometimes known as the "Dian Fossey of the Congo",[2] she currently works for the Programme for Conservation and Rational Utilization of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (ECOFAC), a European Union-sponsored program that establishes a regional framework for conserving rainforests in central Africa.[3][4] She is also a member of the faculty in the Animal Biology Department in the University of Barcelona in Spain.[5]

Primate research

Western Lowland Gorilla (male)

Bermejo first visited Africa in 1986, at the age of 22, to study chimpanzees in Senegal.[6] Then she went to the Lilungu (Ikela) region in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to study bonobos with a colleague from Barcelona, Jordi Sabater Pi. They began work in 1988 and were forced by war conditions to end it in 1990. Conservationists feared that the bonobos had not survived the war, but a population of bonobos was found in the area in 2005.[7][8]

While in Barcelona, Bermejo met and married German Ilera, a Spaniard who started as a law student and then became a videographer and naturalist.

National Geographic video of 2001.[10]

Between October 2002 and January 2003, at the same time that humans in nearby villages were beginning to die from the Zaire strain of the

Extinct in the Wild.[6][12]

Initially, opinions were divided on whether ZEBOV was the cause of the deaths, and if so whether the disease was spread via a reservoir in other species (for example, bats or birds) or by gorilla-to-gorilla transmission. Out of twelve carcasses that Bermejo and her group examined, nine tested positive for Ebola. By the lag time between deaths in neighboring social groups, they were able to show that the disease mainly spread from social group to social group. Based on these results, other scientists have argued for a vaccination campaign to protect other gorillas.[11]

Bermejo has continued to study gorillas after the Ebola outbreak. In 2009, she found a concentration of them near

Odzala National Park. Six social groups have been found, two of which are habituated. Among the foci of the study are the impact of Ebola and interactions with other species (chimpanzees and humans).[6]

Eco-tourism and conservation

After the loss of gorillas to Ebola, Bermejo began to create community projects to help both the gorillas and the people in nearby villages. With support from Sabine Plattner African Charities, development of the nearby village Mbomo has begun, with plans for a community center, Internet and educational enrichment. Odzala Discovery Camps: Ngaga Camp is the research site of Bermejo and Illera and their home, has become a destination for safaris run by Congo Conservation Company. The gorilla tours through a Marantaceae (arrowroot) forest are led by trackers who work for Bermejo.[6]

Works

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-4263-0357-9
    .
  2. ^ a b Grainger, Lisa (16 January 2013). "The Congo: Gorillas in the wild, The Telegraph (UK). Retrieved 15 November 2013". Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  3. ^ Florés, Rafael (2007). "We Will Not Give Up!" (PDF). Lab Times. No. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  4. ^ "ECOFAC". Obo Natural Parks. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  5. ^ "Ebola virus decimates populations of large apes". UB News. University of Barcelona. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Sturz, James (1 August 2013). "Saving the gorillas—and launching a nation's tourism economy". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  7. ^ "Lilungu". Bonobo Conservation Initiative. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2013.
  8. S2CID 33038995
    .
  9. ^ "Gorillas in the Hot Zone". Dispatches from the field: INCEF in action. International Conservation and Education Fund. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  10. ^ "Living with Gorillas". National Geographic education video. 2001. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  11. ^
    S2CID 46639961
    . Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  12. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T9406A136251508.en
    . Retrieved 13 November 2021.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magdalena_Bermejo&oldid=1170992004"