10 Facts about Mountain Gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda.

Interesting Facts about the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo

Facts about Mountain Gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda -Mountain Gorillas are the endangered primate species living in the dense tropical forests of Bwindi impenetrable forest and Mgahinga gorilla forest in south western Uganda, Bwindi impenetrable forest, harbours over half of the world population of the mountain gorillas and others can be seen in volcanoes national park in Rwanda and Virunga national park in the DR. Congo. The gorillas where in extinct due to the serious poaching and killing of this great Apes. However, due to active conservation measures and tourism, they have been saved from the hands of the poachers and are now increasing in number. The facts about the mountain gorillas, is that you can not see them out of there habitats compared to other animals. They can not survive in Zoos you can only see the gorillas in the wild in the tropical forest of Bwindi, Mgahinga, volcanoes and Virunga National park.

Gorilla Trekking in Uganda

Listed below are the 10  Facts Mountain Gorillas

Why are they called mountain Gorillas?

The mountain gorillas are the largest primates that live in the dense tropical forests, they live at an elevation ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 metres in altitude. The temperature tends to drop below the freezing point making the place extremely cold up in Bwindi impenetrable forest, Virunga, volcanoes national park. the gorillas have thick fur covering their skin which helps to regulate the temperatures. There is over 1,063 according to the latest figure of the world’s population of the mountain gorillas in the Virunga massif that is Uganda, DRC and Rwanda.

Mountain Gorillas are wanderers – they do not have a home

Mountain gorillas do not have a stable home, they are wanderers they live in the wild and each g=day they move from one location to another to build their nests, they have a territory ,they make their beds with twigs, leaves, branches, they cover small kilometres each day to set up a new home. But they can also migrate from one country to another like they can move from Uganda to Rwanda or to the Democratic Republic of Congo or vice versa. This is a reason why travellers trek the mountain the gorillas because they move each day and you will need to move some distance to locate them. Trekkers will raise up early morning and head to the park headquarters for briefing and they will be divided in groups led by the rangers/ Guides in to the forest for the start of Gorilla trekking. Gorilla trekking depends on the particular gorilla family you have been assigned to trek and only a group of 8 people are allowed to trek each gorilla family per day.

Mountain Gorillas are the Gentle Giants of the Forest

Mountain gorillas are peaceful primates in the forest but when startled, they can become aggressive and fierce and will be forced to attack you. When disturbed, that can charge and to show the anger, they roar, thumping the chest, grunting loudly but may not attack you, it only does this to as an attempt to bluff you and as away of protection and defending his family. In case the gorilla’s charges, you can respond by crouching down and lowering your head to show that you have accepted defeat. The gorillas are strong and huge creatures, the silverback is the head of the family and will defend the family at any cause. The male gorilla/silver back is Ten times stronger than the Adult human.

Mountain gorillas communicate with one another

The fact that the mountain gorillas are almost have the total DNA of 98% like the humans, they have a higher larynx compared to humans and a soft palate which does not make them to communicate with verbs, nouns or make sentences like the humans do. They simply grunt, hoot, make gestures, chest beating, and making symbols which is there way of communication. As a result of gorilla habituation, this has facilitated the communication and the interaction of the gorillas with the humans using the sign language.

The Gorilla Doctors make forest Calls which Keeps the Gorillas Healthy:

The Mountain Gorillas have their Physicians who often visit the different gorilla groups in the forest, the Gorilla Doctors make forest calls, as away of monitoring the health of the gorillas, administer immunisations, and treat the gorillas they may be sick or having injuries. These all contributes to the overall conservation efforts which results in the increase in number of the endangered species of the mountain gorillas.

Mountain gorillas, though massive and huge, they are not fat:

Just like the human Vegas and vegetarians, the mountain Gorillas will give you a picture of what a plan based diet will do to you, though their diet consists of easiest food to find, the vegetation, the gorillas feed on leaves, branches, plants and some times insects when the leaves have dried off. The gorillas consume up to 60 pounds of leaves and vegetables each day which makes them look huge but in actual sense, the gorillas are not fat they have much thick far covering their bodies since they live of high mountains and the temperature rich the freezing point.

Mountain Gorillas use tools to make life Easier.

Mountain Gorillas use tools for their daily life and also to simplify work for them for example, gorillas learn the use of tools from the other fellow gorillas for example, picking snares from the young gorillas, also, they use sticks to extract ants from the ground or from the tree tops those that get stuck on trees. some gorillas even put a log across the stream for them to pass easily from one side to another among others, gorillas are under a study and in the near years, there will come more other use of the tools by the gorillas to make life easy.

The silver coat on a silverback Mountain Gorilla shows a sign of Maturity like a lion’s Mane:

The young male gorilla has black backed fur, but when the young male gorilla grows and has reaches sexual maturity, he will start to develop a saddle shaped areas of silver hair sh. Like human beards and lion manes, indicate that the gorilla has matured and can now take on the role of the head of the family and to look after the family members.

Baby Mountain Gorillas are smaller than Human Babies:

Mountain gorilla babies are much smaller compared to the human babies, when the baby gorilla is born, they weigh three to four pounds lower than the average weight of the newly born human baby. However, unlike the humans, the gorillas can grow up to 500 plus pounds.

The greatest threat to Mountain Gorillas:

The common threat to the mountain gorillas is the rampant poaching, poaching snares set to trap the small antelopes, sometimes end up trapping the mountain gorillas thus causing illness and death. Also, the over whelming population of humans causing inadequate land for settlement has caused encroachment of humans in to the gorilla inhabits which causes destruction of the forest due to man made activities such as deforestation for charcoal burning, logging among others.