Mountain Gorilla is among the largest and biggest animals and it belongs to the Eastern Gorilla species.
Where to Find Mountain Gorillas?
Mountain gorillas are found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in North West Rwanda and the Virunga National Park in Eastern Congo.
| QUICK FACTS Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: chordateClass: Mamalia Order: primates Suborder: haplorrhini Status: critically endangered Population: approximately 1065 Scientific name: gorilla beringei beringei Weight: up to 440ibs Height:4-6 feet when standing up Diet: vegetarian Life span : 55 years Gestation period: 9months |
Sharing a 97% DNA with humans the mountain gorilla is a very amazing yet endangered and among the great apes in the eastern part of Africa and the world at large that was in the past years close to extinction due to human activity as the population within their safe havens increased yet agriculture is the major economic activity that is carried out by many people in developing economies thus compromising the habitats of many wildlife species.
These gentle amazing giants have endured years of poaching, illegal trade, civil wars to see their numbers grow to date, however we cannot ignore the efforts of the one and only greatest conservationist to first fall in love and had objective views of courage, obsession, love and periodically, that is – Dian Fossey who put in a lot of effort in protecting them and later on brought their plight to the rest of the world, other current organizations and naturalists who carried on after the demise of Dian, non-government bodies like Gorilla Fund International (GFI), Wild Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) local bodies re-known in Uganda – the Uganda Wildlife Authority(UWA) and Rwanda Development Board(RDB) cannot go without mention!
Today, there are roughly 1060 Mountain gorillas in the whole world and are distributed between the Virungas conservation and the impenetrable forests of Bwindi forest National Park in Uganda. The Virungas conservation area is comprised of 3 parks that spread into Uganda, Rwanda and Congo that is to say Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Volcanoes Nationa Park and Virunga National Park respectively.
As the name implies, the mountain gorillas live in the mountainous areas covered with thick tropical and afro-montane rain forests at higher elevations of above two thousand four hundred (2400) to approximately four thousand (4,000) meters above sea level, they have thicker fur and are huge as compared to the lowland gorillas, this has helped them adapt to the freezing cold of their ranges which at times lower to zero degrees Celsius.
What may have been a bleak outlook of the subspecies just a couple of decades ago has brightened in the recent years due to conservation efforts and sensitization plus involvement of the local communities coupled with benefits like revenue sharing between the parks and local communities around these gorilla parks. Despite the continued human encroachment activities mainly from the agricultural practices of the people near them, the mountain gorilla population has greatly increased and today any tourist to Rwanda or Uganda always looks forward to doing a gorilla safari and indeed looking deep into their eyes is the most primate and wildlife encounter for a lifetime that any one visiting these countries should not miss out as they highly draw us deep into the heart of Africa and creates everlasting memories to any visitor who comes meters close or even feels the touch of a wild but habituated silver back just by the arms!!
About the Mountain Gorillas
The Mountain gorilla is also one of the two sub species of the eastern gorilla. One of these populations is in the Virunga Volcanic Mountains of central Africa, within three National parks: in the North West Rwanda; and the virunga in the eastern democratic Republic of Congo. The other mountain gorillas are found in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. However some primatologists consider the Bwindi population in Uganda as a separate sub species though no description has been finished, the estimated number of mountain gorillas is over 880.
Mountain gorillas are also descendants of the ancestral monkeys and the apes found in Africa and also the Arabian during the start of the Oligocene. The fossil record provides evidence of the hominoid primates found in east Africa about 18-22 million years ago. Also these fossil records of the area where the mountain gorillas live is also particularly poor and so it’s evolutionally history is not so clear. The mountain gorillas have also been isolated from the eastern lowland gorillas for about 400,000 years. These have attracted many tourists to come for safaris to Uganda.
The fur of the mountain gorillas are often thicker and longer than that of the other gorilla species, and also enables them to live in colder temperatures and the gorillas can be identified by nose prints unique to each individual. The males can weigh twice as much as the females. This sub species is on average the second largest species of the primates; only the eastern lowland gorillas, the other subspecies of the eastern gorilla, is larger. The adult males have more pronounced bony crests on the top and black of their skulls, giving their heads a more conical shape.
The crests anchor the powerful temporalis muscles, which also attach to the lower jaw; the adult females also have these crests hence less pronounced. And like all the gorillas they feature dark brown eyes framed by a black ring around the iris. These species have greatly attracted many tourists to come for gorilla tracking tours to Uganda.
How Do Mountain Gorillas Look Like?
The hairs of mountain gorilla are much longer and thick than ordinary gorilla and they typically dwell on mountains at higher altitudes. It’s long and thick hairs let is fight with extremely hot or extremely cold climate at higher altitudes.
The feet of mountain Gorilla are very similar to human being in addition to similarities between a lot of other things as well. The nose prints of gorilla are unique and can be used to identify one Gorilla from the other.
The weight of an ordinary male mountain Gorilla is double to that of female gorilla.
The adult males of mountain Gorillas are also termed as ‘silverback’. This is because they get grayish or silver colored hairs at the age of maturity.
The height of mountain Gorilla or any other species of Gorilla ceases to grow after the age of maturity.
Not only mountain gorilla but almost every of the species of gorilla lives very similar to human beings. They use to sleep at the night timings and can be seen active at the day timings.
Mountain Gorillas take a lot of time eating and wandering from one place to another.
The typical altitudes at which mountain gorillas dwell are about 10,000 to 12000 ft. But they can also be found at altitudes of 14,000 ft. There are relatively lesser number of mountain Gorillas at that much height. This is because plants and fruits are easily accessible by Gorillas at lesser heights.
Since mountain Gorilla is a herbivore, therefore its typical diet include shoots, stems and leaves. Several plants speciess are consumed readily by gorillas.
Gorillas do not drink water. Instead, they make water from the vapors of the foliage they consume.
Mountain Gorillas live in the form of groups or family. They may range from 3 to 30 Gorillas in a single group and one group live at a specific place for one year. After a year, mountain Gorillas shift their home to some new place. The home is usually selected on the basis of enough provision of food, fruits and plants.
Quick Facts About Mountain Gorillas
Mountain gorillas are known as the second close relative of man after the chimps which shares almost 98% of human genes and it’s the largest member of the great ape family. An adult male silver-back, which age from 12 and above can weigh up to 470 pounds and can reach six feet in height.
Habitat: Mountain gorillas live in close-knit family groups that may have up to 30 members and the group consists of a dominant male called a silver-back because of the grey hair which grow around its back, the silver-back is responsible for any activity taking place in the group these include knowing where to sleep the following night, where to feed from, defends the group against any attack together with other males and even if meaning losing life a silver-back can do in order to defend the group. Other members in a family include few subordinate males and multiple females and infants.
Diet: Mountain gorillas are purely vegetarian mainly feed on plants, leaves, buds, shoots, tuber, stalks, fruits and ferns and sometimes aunts and rarely drink water since most of the food they eat comprises too much water.
Gestation period: A female normally last with the pregnancy for about 8-10 months, they give birth for the first time at 10 years and will have more offspring’s every three or four years, they normally produce one child, twins are a herd of in life of gorillas.
Life span: They live to up to 50 years in the wild; gorillas can live up to 50 years where as in captivity they may live less than 35 years
Population: By the time of writing, there about 900 individuals left in the world shared by three countries Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo
Threats to mountain gorillas
There major threats are human who practice deforestation to generate farmland, leaving them displaced. Poaching for trade meat and medicine is also another threat resulting into reduction in number. Also other wild animals like leopard also attack and kill them especially the young gorillas. The snares set for other animals kill gorillas. Let us work together for the survival of these endangered species by tracking/trekking them you are adding on their survival. For these gentle apes go gorilla trekking in either Uganda Rwanda or Congo.