As of the 2018 estimate, approximately 1,004 mountain gorillas remained in the wild.
Mountain gorillas, Gorilla beringei beringei, are a subspecies of eastern gorilla found in two isolated populations. One occupies the Virunga Massif, spanning parts of Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The other lives in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the adjacent Sarambwe Nature Reserve.
The 1,004 figure combined 604 gorillas counted in the Virunga Massif during surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 with an estimated 400 in Bwindi from an earlier census. It was reported publicly in May 2018, so the date matters: later surveys increased the estimate to 1,063 by 2019.
Mountain gorillas were once classified as Critically Endangered, but sustained protection, veterinary care, anti-poaching patrols, habitat protection, and carefully managed tourism helped their numbers rise. The IUCN reclassified the subspecies as Endangered in 2008. A common mistake is confusing mountain gorillas with eastern lowland, or Grauer’s, gorillas, which are a separate subspecies and remain Critically Endangered.