# @thetorontozoo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DO-xmG4jKER
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/34895698-thetorontozoo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/2634ddb971.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-09-24T10:00:31.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Toronto Zoo (@thetorontozoo) — https://gondola.cc/thetorontozoo

## Caption

As Guardians of Gorillas, and on this #WorldGorillaDay, we celebrate and raise awareness for the critically endangered Western lowland gorilla, a species facing immense challenges in the wild. Are you aware that over the past 20–25 years, gorilla populations have declined by more than 60%, with numbers still dropping at an annual rate of 2.7% due to poaching, disease, and habitat loss 🦍

Here at your Toronto Zoo, we’re proud to be part of the AZA Species Survival Plan® (SSP), ensuring healthy, genetically diverse populations while supporting conservation programs to protect gorillas globally. 

Our newly launched Guardians of Wild 2025–2027 Strategic Plan pivots your Toronto Zoo toward becoming a “community-funded conservation science organization,” with a strong emphasis on expanding its conservation science, breeding, biobanking, and collaboration globally.

An important component of this strategy is the recent partnership with Species360, through which we aim to enhance cryopreservation data within the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS), to better catalogue and share genetic materials. This expansion is intended to support species recovery, genetic rescue, and more coordinated international biobanking efforts. In relation to our work with the Western lowland gorilla, we are one of the sponsors of Species360’s reports on welfare for great apes produced via the species360 Conservation Science Alliance.
 
In 2022, alongside the tzwconservancy, we committed $250,000 over 10 years to support apeactionafrica and the Gorilla SAFE program, joining the more than $5.5 million zoos_aquariums zoos contribute each year to gorilla conservation.

Join us on-site today at 2:00pm for a special Meet the Guardian talk, where you’ll:
🦍 Hear updates about your Western lowland gorilla troop, that serve as important ambassadors for their wild counterparts
🦍 Learn how Zwalani is settling into his new home as introductions between him and our resident family continue.
🦍 Discover how zoos and conservation partners are working together to save gorillas in the wild

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 1,270
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 7

## Tags

worldgorilladay

---
Copyright (c) Gondola