Discover some of the strange and the most interesting facts you didn’t know about mountain gorillas and have insight about these unique creatures. It is possible for you to have an in-depth exploration about mountain gorilla facts while in their natural habitat only on gorilla safaris in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). These great apes are arguably some of the most magnificent wildlife species on planet earth and they dwell in the montane forest along the slopes of Virunga Massifs and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Amazing mountain gorilla facts
Mountain gorilla facts: Mountain gorillas survive only in the 3 East-Central African states, comprising of 2 isolated groups. One group of these large apes lives in the Virunga Massifs which spans to cover Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Volcanoes National Park and the Virunga National Park. Another section of mountain gorillas lives in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and they account for a population of about 459 out of the remaining 1063 presently.
Mountain gorillas live in high elevation/montane and bamboo forests. Their bodies are hairy and makes them adapted to the cold conditions in their habitat. They thrive at elevation of about 4500m and trekking to see a gorilla family can take you between 2 and 6 hours depending on your speed of hiking, nature of the habitat and where they are found.
Mountain gorillas are listed by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered and they are also the only species of whose numbers keep increasing. Poaching still remains a major threat to survival of mountain gorillas although there are other factors including habitat loss, spread of human infectious diseases, civil war and many others.
Mountain gorillas are largely herbivores, they depend on roots, shoots, leaves, plants and fruits. However, infants breast feed till they clock to 3 to 4 years when they also start depending on plants. They consume about 18kgs of vegetation daily.
Unlike humans, mountain gorillas construct new nests each day. They set their nests on tree branches.
Mountain gorillas are very humble although they can also charge against you in case, they are irritated. They are calm, gentle and organized.
When they reach maturity stage, females leave the family at 9 years and at this age, they are in position to give birth. Females can leave their mothers’ families to join another family or live with a lone silverback. They have gestation period of about 9 months like humans and they give birth to 1 baby at a time and on rare instances, they give birth to twins. An infant can weigh about 1.8kgs at birth.
Mountain gorillas are very intelligent creatures on planet earth. About 98 percent of their DNA is similar to that of humans and they use tools to perform different tasks. They distinct creatures given their unique identifier. Every mountain gorilla features a rare pattern on their nose. They use different modes to communicate to each other especially sign language.
They live in families like humans and every gorilla family is composed of dominant silverback that heads the rest of the members including males, females, juveniles, infants which is a case with humans.
A dominant silverback mountain gorilla takes responsibility of the whole family, defends the rest of the members from intruders/enemies, find palatable places to feed on and many more. A social group of these apes ranges between 2 to 40 members comprising of females, males, infants, juveniles and others. A mature silverback is estimated to be 10 times stronger than an adult human. The entire day of gorilla family is spent largely foraging till they new nests to retire for the night.