Size of Mountain Gorillas

Mountain gorillas are the bulkiest and most powerful living primates, an average male mountain gorillas can weigh 136 to 230 kilograms and can reach a standing height of 4 to 6 feet.

Diet of Mountain Gorillas

Mountain gorillas spend a quarter of their day eating a vegetarian diet, primarly including roots, shoots, leaves, fruit, wild celery, tree bark and pulp. In the thick forests of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, these gorillas find plentiful of food for their vegetarian diet.

Mountain gorillas supplement their plant – based diet with raw protein from snails and ants and the tree bark are their source of sodium.

An adult male mountain gorillas can eat up to 34 kilos a day and a female can eat up to 18 kilos, to support their fat, heavy bellies, they must walk on all fours. They also spend more time sitting, grooming, farting, fornicating and socializing to allow digestion.

Nightlife of Mountain Gorillas

At night, mountain gorillas build temporary nests on the ground or in trees which they sleep together for just that night, these nests are built from foliage. Infants will share their mother’s nests for safety and warmth.

Social Life of Mountain Gorillas

Mountain gorillas live in stable family groups known as troops or bands which consist of around 10 – 40 individuals, each gorilla troop or family has one dominant male – named the silver and several females, and babies.

The silverback is responsible for the family’s well being including find good foraging spots and defending the family from intruders, managing family feuds, finding secure nesting spots and patrolling a home range of 0.75 to 16 square miles.

In the group, any gorillas that challenges this alpha male are apt to be cowed by impressive shows of physical power. He may stand upright, throw things, make aggressive charges and pound his massive chest while barking out powerful hoots or unleashing a frightening roar.

Despite these displays of evident physical power, mountain gorillas are generally calm and non-aggressive animals unless threatened.

In a gorilla group, both males and females care for their infants, hugging, carrying and playing with them. When they get older, most males and about 60% leave their birth group to join another troop which helps in preventing inbreeding.

Communication of Mountain Gorillas

Mountain gorillas are very intelligent animals, some of the gorillas in captivity have even learned simple human sign language.

Primatologists have observed mountain gorillas use 16 different types of communication calls. 

Mountain gorillas use short barks when it is mildly alarmed or curious, to intimidate rivers, male gorillas strut with stiff legs, beat their chests and use vocalizations like roars or hoots. 

Life Expectancy of Mountain Gorillas

In the wild, mountain gorillas can live up to 35 years old. Baby gorillas are classed as infants until they reach around three and half years old and adults from about eight years.

Males between 8-12 years are called blackbacks, then from 12 years old. They develop a silver section of hair over their back and hips which earns them the name Silverback.

Reproduction of Mountain Gorillas

Female gorillas give birth to one infant after a pregnancy of nearly nine months, these babies/ newborns are tiny in size weighing about four pounds. These new born are only able to cling to their mother’s fur, the infants ride on their mother’s backs from four months through the first two or three years of the lives.

From three to six years old, young gorillas are very adorable to watch that is on gorilla trekking safari because they resemble children with their charming antics.

Baby gorillas spend most of their day climbing trees, chasing one another and swinging from branches.

Conservation of Mountain Gorillas

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which sets the conservation status of species, changed the mountain gorilla status from “critically endangered” to “endangered’ in 2008 as their population have tremendously increased.

Thanks to the aggressive conservation programs around the gorillas involving governments, NGOs, tour operators and private individuals.

However, scientists have warned that they could quickly slip back into being critically endangered if conservation efforts don’t get the attention they deserve. Conservationists consider mountain gorilla conservation story one of the most successful programs in the history of natural history.

How to See Mountain Gorillas in Uganda

Tourists can only see mountain gorillas on a gorilla trekking safari and gorilla habituation experience.

You can organize a Uganda Safari through a trusted tour operator, to take part in gorilla safari. You have to have a gorilla permit for gorilla trekking and gorilla habituation permit for gorilla habituation experience.

Gorilla habits are issued by Uganda Wildlife Authority, a gorilla permit costs $ 700    and a gorilla habituation permit costs $ 1500.