Do Mountain Gorillas Live in Families?

Mountain gorillas are one of the unmissable animals during African Safaris and if meeting face to face with them is on your bucket list, then start planning your trip to Uganda, Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo where they are found. Learning about their exciting behavior is one of the things that any primate lover would be interested in and this includes whether they live in families.

Therefore, do mountain gorillas live in families? Well, these endangered Giant Apes are generally social creatures that normally form interesting harems (several female gorillas share the dominant silverback). While there are sometimes numerous silverbacks (adult males), only one (possibly the oldest and strongest) heads the family that also comprises of blackbacks, juveniles and offsprings. Nonetheless, among these Giant Apes, about 40% of their families have a number of males who are closely related.

As mountain gorilla families have more females than the males, most of the latter are left over. They will be left to wander around the surrounding on their own and surprisingly, those loners comprise about 5-10% of the entire mountain gorilla population. It has also been discovered that mountain gorillas sometimes live in all-male families. For instance, Titus gorilla family in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park was once made up of only silverbacks until years later when they were eventually joined by 5 female gorillas.

Their family sizes are generally irregular, whereby an average family can have from 5 to 30 members. History has it that the largest ever-existed gorilla family was in Volcanoes National Park, North-western Rwanda with over 65 members but it was for a short period of time. Have you ever wondered what happens when the dominant silverback dies? Normally, the family will dissolve or the strongest or oldest of the subordinate silverbacks (in most cases the son of deceased dominant silverback) will take over.

This strong and unbreakable bond within the gorilla family is fundamental in the upbringing of baby gorillas. This is evidenced by the care and affection shown to the youngsters who have just lost their mothers. In such circumstances, the entire family, especially dominant silverback will take over some of the mother’s duties and responsibilities regardless of paternity. These include spending more quality time in close proximity with them, increasing on the amount of time taken in grooming as well as resting together.

While there are chances of subordinate silverbacks or blackbacks taking over leadership in future after the death of the family leader, not everyone will lead and for this reason, some silverbacks decide to leave and form their own families. For the female mountain gorillas, they have no place in the family on becoming sub-adults and therefore join other gorilla families. This behavior is important in preventing in-breeding among the Great Apes.

Gorilla Families in Uganda

For Uganda, there are two renowned gorilla trekking destinations (Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks) with a total of over 40 families. However of these families, about 21 have been fully habituated for trekking-20 in Bwindi and 1 in Mgahinga.

Bwindi gorilla families are distributed in four trekking sectors. In the North is Buhoma sector that comprises of Katwe, Mubare, Habinyanja, Rushegura and Muyambi families. In the Eastern side of Ruhija sector with Oruzogo, Kyaguliro (research group), Mukiza and Bitukura. To the southern side are two sectors-Rushaga (with Bikingi, Nshongi, Mukiza, Kutu, Bweza, Mucunguzi, Kahungye, Rwigi, Busingye and Mishaya families) and Nkuringo sector (with Bushaho, Nkuringo and Christmas families) while Nyakagezi is found in Mgahinga.

Mountain Gorilla Families in Rwanda

The north-western based National Park of Rwanda is haven to 12 habituated gorilla families and they include Karisimbi, Sabyinyo, Amahoro, Hirwa, Kwitonda, Ugenda, Susa, Bwenge, Agashya, Igisha, Umubano and Muhoza.

Mountain Gorilla Families in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Munyaga, Kabirizi, Rugendo, Bageni, Mapuwa, Lulengo, Humba and Nyakamwe are the existing gorilla families in Congo’s Virunga National Park.