Are Mountain Gorillas Aggressive Towards Humans?

Having watched popular gorilla movies/films such as King Kong, Planet of the Apes, and Mighty Joe Young among others, you would imagine the mountain gorillas being aggressive, beasts, and destructive creatures. Surprisingly, these movies are just products of human technology and imagination except “Gorillas in the Mist” which brings to light the plight of these Giant Apes as well as their adorably gentle behavior while in their natural habitat. However, it should be noted that like humans, the mountain gorillas also get angry and become defensive with all their might when threatened.

Therefore, Are mountain gorillas aggressive towards humans, the answer is NO. The endangered Great Apes are generally gentle, calm, and peaceful creatures that only and only (with emphasis) become aggressive in certain difficult situations. In most cases, the dominant silverback of a gorilla family beats his chest and fights with everything he has, to the point of getting physical injuries and sometimes losing his life. It is for this reason that silverbacks usually have fatal wounds, caused by long canines. If two mountain gorilla groups encounter each other, it is common for the dominant silverbacks to challenge each other to a fight with the hope of grabbing members from their counterparts, and at some point killing gorilla babies after having full control of the Gorilla Group. Usually, such aggressive tendencies happen more frequently with higher population densities.

Besides dominant silverbacks challenging each other, they also fight when they feel their gorilla groups are under attack, whether real or just perceived. Therefore, they are habituated (some sort of training) for 2-3 years to make them accustomed thus won’t see humans as enemies. When tourists are getting closer to the mountain gorillas, the dominant silverback has to first be informed and comfortable so as to avoid surprises thus the negative responses. If he doesn’t feel comfortable, there are chances of getting attacked and poachers can attest to this.

For tourists, mountain gorillas only become aggressive when you behave in a wrong way towards them. For instance, sudden and swift movements make silverbacks more alert, thus responding by chest beating as well as loud roars followed by running towards the “perceived enemy” with high speed then stopping right in front. However, if you submit by crouching down, he (silverback) will see you as harmless thus walk away. If you do the mistake of running away or trying to challenge them, then expect a real fight with bites, scratches to any body part. At this point, your life is at the mercy of the silverback because they fight dirty to the point of killing but worry not because there have not been any cases of tourists being killed by mountain gorillas but rather poachers.

How Visitors can avoid Mountain Gorilla attacks

Visitors can avoid Mountain gorilla attacks by doing a number of effortless things that include;

• Read the different mountain gorilla signals, because they display a number of things like chest-beating before charging and from here travelers can respond by crouching down or tearing vegetation as a way of submission.
• Avoid flash cameras for photography because mountain gorillas get startled and this is likely to make them angry, thus charging and sometimes even attacking visitors physically.
• Don’t stare directly into the eyes of Mountain gorillas or even display your teeth as these Giant Apes perceive it as a challenge. Even after charging, simply be submissive by crouching down or looking away to calm the angry silverback.
• Always maintain a minimum distance of 7 meters away from these Giant Apes during observation and photography. Also, avoid any possible attempts of touching them, and even when infant gorillas come close, simply turn away and slowly move back without drawing attention.

Conclusively, mountain gorillas are not aggressive towards humans because they are generally peaceful Giant Apes that only charge when provoked or pushed to the wall. However, mountain gorillas’ aggressiveness towards each other is inevitable when fighting for dominance as well as trying to protect territories.