The Mountain Gorilla is the biggest primate on the Earth second only to the Western Lowland Gorilla, they inhabit the high-altitude cloud Forests of The Virunga Mountains present between the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), Uganda, and Rwanda
The Virunga Mountain houses 3 major national parks in which Gorillas are present and they all are separated only by borders – Virunga National Park in DRC, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda.
Gorilla Social Structure, Family, and Diet
Mountain Gorillas are social creatures who live in groups called “Troops”, each group consist of 5-30 member led by a dominant male Silverback Gorilla, Silverback Gorilla are Gorillas which are Sexually mature and Dominant male who are in charge of finding Food and protecting the territory, they also have exclusive mating rights with all the females in the groups, they are easily recognizable by their crest of Silver hair present on their backs, in the Troops aggression is rare unless its fight for dominance but generally they are peaceful creatures. Communication is done by a series of Vocalizations and Grunts.
The Mountain Gorilla’s diet primarily consists of leaves, stems, fruits, shoots, and bark along with that they also eat small insects and vertebrates to supplement their diet with protein due to their low protein intake also from time to time they visit salt licks which are areas where salt are exposed on rocks or dissolved in pools of stagnant water so they can fulfill their salt requirements as well.
Conservation Status
Mountain Gorillas are listed as critically endangered in the IUCN red list and the current population stands at about 1000 individuals, the main threat to Mountain Gorillas is Habitat loss, Poaching, Habitat fragmentation, illegal Bushmeat, pet trade, and disease. Human encroachment into prime Gorilla Habitat for Farming fragments their already small habitat which puts Gorillas in direct contact with Humans which makes them susceptible to catching human diseases as they share 97 % DNA similarity with us. Mountain Gorillas are also susceptible to Ebola and reports have come out from DRC that Ebola has already struck the Chimpanzee population and wiped out the entire group within a matter of days, even though Mountain Gorillas don’t interact with Chimpanzees it is not unheard of and Disease transmission can take place in the brief contact they have with the Chimpanxees thereby spreading the disease to an already fragile population battling habitat fragmentation and poaching for the illegal bushmeat trade.
Conservation efforts
The most prominent name in the field of Mountain Gorilla conservation is Dian Fossey, an American Primatologist who with the help of Louis Leakey studied the Mountain Gorilla first in DRC but after the rebellion in DRC she moved to Rwanda, where she continued her research on the Mountain Gorilla’s from the Karisoke research camp and made many groundbreaking discoveries related to their Social structure and behavior, in the course of her research she found about the plight of the Mountain Gorillas which they faced from Habitat loss and poaching, she became a passionate advocate for Mountain Gorillas and adopted radical anti-poaching stance and measures to safeguard the Gorillas. She faced a lot of resistance from the local officials and the local community and also from members of the scientific community related to the habituation of Mountain Gorillas to humans which posed a threat to them as well as the humans but despite all the opposition she kept going until one day she was found murdered in her cabin, it can be speculated that the heinous act was carried out by a disgruntled member of the local community who was caught by her while trying to poach a Mountain Gorilla but till date, the perpetrators have not been found.
Because of the work done by Dian Fossey on Mountain Gorillas the Gorilla population has more than doubled since its lowest of 300 individuals when Dian started her work. The future of the Mountain Gorillas looks optimistic but unless the problem of habitat loss and habitat fragmentation is not answered there will be Mountain Gorilla deaths due to Human interference if concentrated efforts and resources are pooled by the three countries DRC, Rwanda, and Uganda along with Western nation the numbers will increase, and the Mountains will be protected.
