Problem

Almost one half of non-human primates are at risk of extinction, and none more so than gorillas. Gorillas are disappearing at an alarming rate, mostly a victim of their surroundings. Political unrest, wars, poachers, miners, and loggers all converging in a perfect storm of brutality and human depravity, killing one of our closest living relatives. Gorilla’s DNA is 98-99% an exact match for human DNA, just barely trailing our closest living relatives (genus Pan, chimpanzees and bonobos). Unfortunately for the gorillas, they occupy a region rich in tin, diamonds, gold and coltan (a rare mineral used to create capacitors for cellphones, games consoles and laptops).

There are actually 2 different species of gorillas, and up to 6 different sub-species, although there is some debate about lumping or splitting the phylogeny. It makes little difference as all species of gorillas are endangered. All live in tropical or sub tropical areas of Africa. Gorillas are highly intelligent. Famously, the gorilla Koko was taught American Sign Language. She understands over 2,000 words and carries on conversations. Koko also cares for several cats, one of the few non-humans to have pets.

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I will donate each and every dollar generated from this article to charity. That is determined by the number of views that this article receives. So help get this article as many views as possible. On digg, yahoo, reddit, e-mail it, tweet it. Do whatever you can, every view will help. All proceeds will go to one of the charities listed below for cancer research. Thanks for your help.

A few days ago I learned that someone very important to me’s mother was not in good shape. She has been fighting cancer for many years now. Fighting the fight that unfortunately many of us have seen, either first or second hand. This article is dedicated to her. Please send your thoughts, prayers, positive energy or whatever you personally believe her way.

Cancer is defined as any group of cells that display uncontrolled growth. Nearly all cancers are caused by abnormalities in the genetic code that create the cells in our body. These abnormalities could be caused by pollutants, chemicals, sunshine, hormones, microbes, or just random bad luck. There are many ways to damage the fragile DNA that lives inside almost all of the cells in our bodies.

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