gorilla habitat

Habitat
The most serious threat to gorillas is habitat loss. The rich volcanic soil of the Virungas is as highly valued as farming land. In Rwanda, Uganda and Congo, a regional conservation program stressing the importance of maintaining the virgin forest watershed and the need to habituate some groups of mountain gorillas for tourist visits has helped ease encroachment.

Silverbacks are typically more aggressive than other group members since the troop’s safety is their responsibility. The silverback makes all group decisions, is responsible for most of the calls, receives the dominant portion of food (even when resources are limited) and can terminate troublesome behavior with just a look. A male must have an established home range and great strength to confront any rival before acquiring his own troop. Therefore most silverbacks are usually solitary for about four years and turn 15 before acquiring a troop of their own.

The oldest and strongest adult male silverback is usually dominant in the troop and has exclusive breeding rights to the females. Adolescent females transfer to another troop before reproducing at around eight years of age. Generally the first troop a female reproduces in will become her permanent family. A female’s status or rank in the family is generally determined by the order in which she was recruited into the troop. Late arrivals do not receive the benefits of high ranking females such as having their offspring remain close to the dominant silverback for protection. It is for this reason that females most often join a lone silverback or a newly formed troop rather than a long-established one.

An adolescent male most often splits from his parent group due to lack of breeding opportunity. Usually the adolescent male will remain solitary until he forms his own troop. This process takes several years and begins by the juvenile male separating himself just outside from the troop. As time progresses, his distances increase from the parental group.

Troop populations usually range in size from 2 to 12 individuals with 9 being the average. They are highly synchronized in their activity patterns. If a troop consists of multiple silverbacks they are usually the sons of the dominant adult male silverback. One of the largest gorilla troops identified had 4 silverbacks, 5 blackbacks, 12 adult females, and 16 young.

Please Inquire Now