Two New Babies Boost Fragile Mountain Gorilla Population

by Jenny Dolphin

Two new baby mountain gorillas were born in Rwanda and Uganda on 25 December 2003, providing a welcome increase to the regional mountain gorilla population.

One of the infants was born to first-time mother Nyabitondore in Rwanda's Parc National des Volcans in the Virunga Mountains, an IUCN biosphere reserve.

The birth brought the size of the Susa family, one of the largest mountain gorilla groups in the world, to 36.

The last publicly reported birth in the Susa family, that of infant Itsinzi, was exactly four months earlier.

In neighbouring Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, habituated mountain gorilla Wagenyi delivered the newest member of the Nkuringo group.

The newborn has taken the group population to 22, including the last recorded birth three months earlier.

The infants are two out of fewer than 700 surviving mountain gorillas, none of which exist in legal captivity.

"Gorillas rarely give birth,' said Barbara Musoke, spokesperson for the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA).

Mountain gorillas typically bear young for the first time at around ten years of age and then reproduce only once every three to four years. Females are only able to conceive for approximately three days in each month, and males are not sexually mature until the age of twelve or fifteen.

Newborn mountain gorillas are as vulnerable and dependent as human babies, but develop roughly twice as fast. They generally suckle for one year and are gradually weaned between the ages of three and four.

Musoke explained that the gender of the infant born at Bwindi is unknown because the mother is very protective. Wagenyi's newborn is expected to undergo a traditional naming ceremony in the presence of the media to help publicize the fragile status of the mountain gorillas.

Mountain gorillas are an endangered subspecies whose population is imperilled as a result of poaching, habitat encroachment, violent conflict and disease. They are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The mountain gorillas in the habitat shared by Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are the focus of intensive conservation efforts coordinated by the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) and bolstered by ecotourism.

The IGCP works in partnership with Fauna & Flora International (FFI) in the UK, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in the USA and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the rest of the world. Nationally, the IGCP collaborates with the Office Rwandais de Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) and the UWA.

Census figures released on 16 January 2004 revealed that the population of mountain gorillas in the Virunga Mountains alone has risen to 380, a growth of 17 percent since 1989.

"The mountain gorilla is a threatened species, and the increase in their number is great news for us and good news for the rest of the world," said Fidel Ruzigandekwe of the Rwandan National Parks and Tourism Authority. "The few additional gorilla individuals add to the genetic pool of the species."

Chief scientist and vice president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Dieter Steklis, also commented: "Given the decade-long political strife in the region, it is remarkable that the mountain gorilla population has nevertheless fared well - and even experienced some growth."

The census did not include Bwindi's gorillas because some experts believe they may comprise a different subspecies. A survey of the Bwindi group in 2002 put the population at 320.

© 2004 Animal News Center, Inc.