Mountain gorillas inhabit the highlands of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. They evolved half a million years ago, with the rise of the Virunga volcanoes, adapting to the terrain by diverging from other eastern gorillas, becoming bulkier and hairier.
They are herbivores who sometimes eat ants and termites. They tend to eat in the morning and in the afternoon and travel 1-2km (1mi) in search of suitable nesting sites.
Mountain gorillas use vocalisations, physical gestures and movement to communicate. Their contact grunts are very important for group cohesion and coordination.
Females reach sexual maturity at eight years and mate with some or all males in the group. Pregnancy is 8.5 months and there are 3-4 years between births. At birth they weigh 1.5-2kg (4lb) and after four months ride on their mother’s back.
A silverback is an adult male, over 12 years old, with a distinctive patch of silver hair on his back and large canine teeth. He is the group leader, makes all the decisions, mediates conflicts, leads them to feeding sites and is responsible for defence, safety and well-being.
Discovered in 1902, their groups consist of 10-20 members and they live 30-50 years. There are only about 1,000 mountain gorillas in existence but their number is increasing. They can be visited in four parks: Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP, Uganda’s Bwindi and Mgahinga NPs and Congo’s Virunga NP.
Kahuzi-Biega NP is the only place in the world where habituated Eastern lowland gorillas (also known as Grauer’s gorillas) can be seen. The biggest of all gorilla subspecies, Grauer’s males grow to almost two metres (6 feet and 5 inches). They have shorter hair than mountain gorillas. It is estimated that there are about 3,500 of them left on the planet.
featured image: silberback mountain gorilla in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park by Jiro Ose
Our Stories About Gorillas:
-
The Battle of the Great Apes: Gorillas versus Chimpanzees
When I learned I was going to do an internship in Uganda for six months, I immediately started researching the country and its highlights. Naturally, one of the first things that came up was gorilla tracking. I remember opening the page, scrolling through it and getting excited, until I saw the price tag and realised…
-
What Do Gorillas Think of Face Masks?
Hello, my dears? Are you still there?For me, I am still with you, trust me!The reason why you haven’t heard from me for a while is that I was busy busy busy working with two different TV crews. They wanted to capture the best of Volcanoes National Park — and when you work with camera…
-
Complex Social Lives of Mountain Gorillas (Including Sex)
Who Can Be a Silverback? A silverback is an adult male gorilla, typically over 12 years old and named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back. They have large canine teeth that come with maturity. Silverbacks are the strong, dominant troop leaders but not all have this position; some may have never…
-
King Kong vs. Gentle Gorilla
As the Godzilla vs. Kong movie opens globally tomorrow, let us investigate why people got gorillas so wrong initially, and how they started to realise the mistake. History of Gorilla Fantasies While Batwa “Pygmies” had coexisted with mountain gorillas in the rainforests of central Africa since time immemorial, the rest of the world took quite a bit longer.…
-
My Commitment to Nabanga
Jambo sana! I am Amy Porter, a wildlife behavioural ecologist and conservation biologist with a special love of primates and birds. I am from the US (Pacific Northwest) but I have worked all over the world, and recently I spent four years studying Grauer’s gorillas and bonobos and working on community conservation projects in the…
-
Name-Calling in the Virungas
Hello, my friends? I am back home from what we call the prevention area, the zone in which we are kept isolated for two weeks as we track mountains gorillas. Today I want to tell you about some of my favourite gorillas. I know the names and personalities of about 150 of them but some are…
-
Not so Close Encounters, Please
Your first hike through the lush forest, entrance to a clearing, and face to face encounter a family of Mountain Gorillas in the wild, should be life experience enough for anyone. But in these days of social media, it may not be — we need selfies as well.It may be such selfies of friends or…
-
Grumpy Silverback
Hi! I’m Marcus Westberg, a longtime Gorilla Highlands collaborator. I’m originally from Sweden, but work as a photojournalist all over the world — though Africa is where my heart is. For the foreseeable future, I’ll be posting a mostly-weekly column focusing on some of my favorite images and experiences from the Gorilla Highlands region, usually…
-
Why Gorilla Numbers Keep Growing
Great news: the three Covid-infected gorillas at the San Diego Zoo have fully recovered. They showed only light symptoms — cough and lack of energy — during sickness but with this naughty virus you really never know…Last week we updated you on how gorilla tracking has been made safe for the animals in the pandemic,…