( CNN ) -- The mountain gorillas in a national park in Congo appear to be hanging on well despite such dangers as civil warfare and poaching , according to an ongoing census . Park rangers conducting the census in November . Workers have identified 75 `` habituated '' gorillas in Virunga National Park , three more than there were in the last census nearly a year and a half ago , said Samantha Newport , the park communications director . Habituated gorillas are those who are accustomed to contact with humans . They are easier to spot than non-habituated gorillas , thought to number around 120 . Newport said the census should be completed by around January 20 and officials hope that more habituated gorillas will be identified . She said the fact that gorillas have survived amid civil war in the region is `` nothing short of a miracle . '' Laurent Nkunda 's Tutsi armed force that had been fighting Congolese soldiers and their militia allies has had control of large swaths of the 8,000 square-kilometer park . The gorilla section is in a strategically important area near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda . Officials have long said that the 250-square kilometer gorilla reserve in the southern part of Virunga National Park is where around 200 of the world 's 700 mountain gorillas live .
Census of mountain gorillas in DR Congo doing well despite war , poaching . Comment: That 's three more than last census and conservationists hope to identify more .