About Mountain Gorillas
About Mountain Gorillas
Gorillas are some of the fascinating animals on planet, these beautiful animals are said to have evolved from monkeys and other apes in Arabia and Africa about 9 million years ago. After a period of about 2 million years ago, the Eastern gorillas separated from the western gorillas found in West and Central Africa. The Eastern gorillas further split into what known as mountain gorillas – endangered species and the Eastern lowland gorillas that is approximately 400,000 years ago.
The gorillas adopted their name from 1852 after the genus were first called Troglodytes, in 1967 – Colin Groves came up with the idea of naming the different species of gorillas. Through this idea names of Western lowland gorilla, Eastern lowland gorilla and Mountain gorilla came into existence.
Where are Mountain Gorillas found?
Mountain gorillas are endangered gorilla species only found in 3 countries that is Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Uganda hosts half of the overall population of mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National park and Mgahinga Gorilla national park.
- In Democratic Republic of Congo, mountain gorillas are found in Virunga national park
- In Rwanda, mountain gorillas are found in Volcanoes national park
These areas/ national parks prove the right habitat, ecology and altitude (7,200 – 14,100 feet) to allow the mountain gorillas thrive. The high altitude of these areas support dense vegetation, they are cold and windy.
Mountain gorillas are in low population when compared to other gorillas that is why they are given a lot of attention because they cannot survive in captivity like the lowland gorillas.
According to the 2018 gorilla census, there are about 1,004 mountain gorillas roaming the planet. This why gorillas are listed as endangered by the IUCN.
Physical characteristics of Mountain Gorillas
Mountain gorillas are characterized by a thicker fur compared to all the other types of gorillas found in Africa, this allows them to live in cold higher altitudes.
An adult male mountain gorillas are known as silverbacks, this is because of the silver hair behind their back most especially in males.
An adult female gorill weighs about 100 kilograms while a male gorilla “Silverback” can weigh about 195 kilograms. Silverbacks also grow taller 4 times stronger than the largest human, however mountain gorillas weigh less than the eastern lowland gorillas.
Mountain gorillas can be identified by the unique nose prints of each individual, their eyes are dark brown and hands are longer than the legs. Mountain gorillas can stand and move upright but they prefer knuckle-walking where they use their fingers to support their weight.
Mountain gorillas are only active during day (06:00 am – 06:00 pm), they spend most of their time feeding in insects, shoots/ stems, leaves, roots, flowers and fruits to sustain their huge size. The most active eating time is in the morning then a rest around mid-day before eating again in the afternoon as night approaches, they rest at mid-day which an opportunity for bonding through grooming to remove parasites and dirt. This is also the time when you can witness the juveniles playing, chasing, wrestling and somersaulting. If invited, adults may participate in the games though grudgingly,
Mountain gorillas use barks and grants to locate each other within the thick vegetation.
In the night, each adult gorilla builds a nest from tree leaves and other vegetation, infants share the same nest with their mothers. Mountain gorillas spend most their time on the ground and their nests are also built on the ground, adult gorillas only climb trees in search of fruits and if the tree can hold their weight.
Each individual mountain gorilla builds a nest from tree leaves and other vegetation, infants share the same nest with their mothers. Mountain gorillas spend most of their time on the ground and their nests are also built on the ground, the adult gorillas will only climb trees in search of fruits and if the tree can hold their weight. Frequent tree climbing is done by the juveniles, one of the frequent cause of accidents and even death among adult gorillas is falling off a loose tree branch.
Mountain gorillas are afraid of certain insects and retiles, they avoid caterpillars and chameleons when possible. They are also afraid of water and dislike rain and they will only cross streams if they can cross it using fallen logs or trees.
Mountain gorillas are a relatively stable group which separates them from other gorilla groups, mountain gorillas are highly social and leave in a cohesive group led by a dominant male. They are held together for longer periods than other ape families because of the close bond between the dominant silverback and females. The bond between females is weaker and they will often leave to join other gorilla groups once they reach maturity or start life with a lone male. Some females will change to new groups to several times before sticking to one silverback, most of the females in a group will remain loyal to a dominate silverback for life.
Mating in Mountain gorillas is often initiated by a fertile female.
Mountain gorilla groups do not control or inhabit a particular territory leaving the male silverback with the task of only defending his group against intruders, 36% of mountain gorilla groups contain more than one silverback. A few gorilla groups contain only males led by an older adult but there are also alone males. In a gorilla group with females, the dominant male silverback is the undisputed leader and center of attention while the rest of the males are subordinates. Everyone in the group tries to be on his good books by behaving well and involving him in their games if he shows interest. The silverback dictates the movement of the group and chooses the best feeding grounds, he also resolves any conflicts between members and will defend the group against other gorillas, predators like leopards or humans even to the death.
When a female dies or leaves the group, the silverback will take care of her young. He can use his experience to remove snares from the feet or hands of members of his group. The death of a silverback can cause disruption in once peaceful group. If there is no acceptable leader to succeed the silverback, the group will split or get a leader from outside the group. If they choose a silverback from another group, however there is a risk that he may decide to kill all infants of the deceased male.
Though mountain gorillas are strong and powerful, they are generally very gentle and shy, gorillas only resort to aggression when attacked or if they encounter another group of gorillas. Even in such cases, they will first begin by threatening or intimidating an intruder. When the silverbacks choose to fight, it can turn out to be violent even to the point of death. They use sharp teeth to cause deep wounds and injuries to the rival.
Dian Fossey and her research on Mountain gorillas
Captain Robert Von Beringe was the first person to identify the mountain gorilla while on his expedition to establish the boundaries of the then German colonies in East Africa. After shooting two of these large apes, one was captured and sent to a museum in Germany, it was from here that a new gorilla species was discovered. It was named Gorilla Beringei after Captain Robert.
In the following decades, several researchers including George Schaller in A959 and Dian Fossey in 1967took interest in studying the newly discovered gorilla specie. Diani Fossey took Mountain gorilla research to an unprecedented level and she is credited for discovering new ways of habituating mountain gorillas like mimicking their sounds and gaining the trust of the dominant male silverback.
Dian Fossey organized the first gorilla census and changed from focusing solely on research to gorilla conservation which brought the plight of the gorillas to the attention of the world. Dian Fossey divided gorilla conservation into three areas that is Active, theoretical and community based.
Under active conservation – she suggested the need to proactively enforce laws that were against poaching including destroying of the poacher equipments, carrying out animal censuses.
Theoretical conservation – would require improving the infrastructure around gorilla habitats including renovating park offices, lodges and habituating gorilla families to encourage tourism.
Gorilla Conservation is the final approach and is the community based conservation approach where communities are involved and their interests are taken into consideration. Dian Fossey actively fought against poachers by sabotaging their operations and starting park patrols, unfortunately she was murdered in cold blood which is believed to be by poachers as she was against their practices which were considered illegal. Her work continues to this day through what is now known as the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
Current threats and Conservation
Although the population of mountain gorillas has increased to over 1,000 individuals, mountain gorillas are still threatened and considered an endangered species. Humans are still the greatest threat to the mountain gorillas, Democratic Republic of Congo mountain gorillas still fall victim to poaching, and many of them have been killed or maimed by snares leaving behind traumatized orphans. Most of these snares are meant for animals but unfortunately gorillas fall victim, insecurity, civil unrest and wars in DR.Congo have also had impact on the overall population of mountain gorillas despite of being protected in the oldest national park in Africa that is Virunga national park.
One of the main reasons for the continuous increase in mountain gorilla numbers is because of gorilla tourism (gorilla trekking), the stringent measures put in place by the government to protect the primates and the efforts of researchers with funding from generous donors. Mountain gorillas receive treatment from veterinary doctors in case of any life – threatening conditions or woods from snares. In Congo, the Senkwekwe gorilla Orphanage was built to rehabilitate young mountain gorillas who parents lost their lives due to poaching. Park management of Virunga national park have increased armed patrols within the park to flush out any poachers or armed militias. There have also been controversial decisions such as eviction of the Batwa from the forests of Uganda and Rwanda. These decisions have helped in stabilizing the population of mountain gorillas, however the government can still do more to involve the local communities in the park operations from which they can benefit from tourism.
Endangered Mountain gorilla conservation has fortunately been successful, their intriguing nature and their endangered status has made it easy to attract funding from wildlife conservation organizations. The main international organization working to protect mountain gorillas is the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), this programme was founded in 1991 and is a combined effort of the World Wide Fund for Nature, Fauna & Flora International and African Widllife Foundation. These organisations have been very generous and have made resources available for the protection of the Mountain gorillas.
Mountain Gorilla Trekking
Encountering with Mountain gorillas is the ultimate wildlife experience, though the experience is expensive it is worth every coin. There is no experience that can beat meeting mountain gorillas in their natural habitat, mountain gorillas are our close relatives sharing 98% DNA with humans.
In the whole world, it I estimated that only about 1000 mountain gorillas survive in the wild, half of these gorillas are found in Uganda and the other half is found in Rwanda and DR.Congo. Because of the small population left in the world, mountain gorillas are considered endangered by organizations like the International Union for Conservation for Nature.
Deciding on the best country to do gorilla trekking is hard as each country has its biases and it is individual opinion, each country has its advantages over the other and the final decision depends on an individual.
About 20% of mountain gorillas are habituated, the gorilla habituation experience takes approximately two years allowing gorillas time for mountain gorillas to get used to humans in their midst. Non-habituated mountain gorillas are unpredictable and visitors are not allowed near them.
Mountain Gorilla Trekking involves passing through dense forest, steep hill and mud-filled pathways.
The best time to do gorilla trekking
Gorilla trekking and adventurous gorilla habituation experience can be done throughout the year. However the best time to do gorilla safari is in the dry season when the countryside and gorilla parks are still stunning green and less muddy.
