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Extinction is happening. It is important that this is communicated in spaces such as schools/museums/ zoo's etc. Yet extinction narratives should be based on actual facts & should not be sensationalized. Extinction narratives around Mountain Gorilla's, as an example (1/n) 🦍
This weekend I was with my family in Brussels train museum. Which now also hosts an exposition on biodiversity & extinction. It also focusses on the endangered mountain gorillas #animalia 
Yet, the short text (in Dutch and French) that explained why mountain gorillas are endangered contained at least 6 factual errors (!). 1. They do not only exist in the #DRC also Uganda and Rwanda. 2. There are around 1063 individuals instead of 600
3. It is the only ape that is increasing in numbers and therefor reclassified from critical endangered to endangered 4. They do not suffer from Ebola - it was a threat - but it was never transmitted. 5. and the most defamatory to Congolese people...
They are not endangered, because they are hunted for meat. People in the Virunga area do NOT eat mountain gorilla meat. They are not poached/ killed because people want to eat them. People set traps for Antelopes, which forms also a danger for gorillas.
The narrative that gorillas are poached by Congolese people for meat is widespread, and I also have seen it in Zoo's/ media etc. It reproduces a colonial and racist image of people living with Gorilla's for centuries.
oh and 6. there is also no industrial mining close to Gorilla habitat that is encroaching on their habitat. As gorilla population is expanding, Rwanda is actually aiming to increase gorilla habitat in the country by 23 procent afrik21.africa/en/rwanda-volc…
cc. @JPvanYpersele is it possible to still change the extinction narrative in the exposition/ museum?
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