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Protecting the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga
Silverback Bageni’s Wounds Healing Nicely, Silverback Mukunda Still Limping
by Ranger Sekibibi Bareke
Silverback Bageni
Last week, I went with Dr. Eddy and Dr. Martin of MGVP to check on silverback Bageni and his family. As you will remember, Bageni got in a bad fight with silverback Mukunda and suffered some deep wounds to his arm. Fortunately, Bageni’s wounds did not become infected and they are showing good progress. We observed him to be walking, holding leaves, eating, and climbing trees without any problem. He seems to be very proud of his new family and is clearly a good leader. His family includes his mother, Mapendo, his three little brothers, blackback Kanamahalagi, sub-adult Kamoso, and Ntamuvulira, the baby. At 15 years old, Bageni is a young silverback, but he seems ready to be the patriarch of this family.
Silverback Mukunda was observed to be healing from the fight as well, but the wounds on his feet still haven’t healed fully. This is understandable because he isn’t able to stay off his feet. Healing will be a slow and uncomfortable process for him.
Silverback Bageni and Blackback Kanamaharagi
Getting back to the struggle for dominance between these two silverbacks, it’s easy to understand why Mukunda thought he was the stronger of the two. At 18 years old, he is three years older than Bageni and his past fight with blackback Jeshi is likely to have made him feel very confident. Mukunda killed Jeshi in that fight, but this happened when Jeshi was ill, very weak, and had been abandoned by his family. Bageni, however, is a healthy young silverback, and in this instance, had blackbacks Kanamaharagi and Kitagenda come to his aid. Bageni himself may have been able to defend his new family, but with his two young allies, Mukunda was simply outnumbered.
One day, Mukunda, one day…
Although Mukunda was driven off, let’s remember that he still managed to inflict serious wounds on Bageni. Displays such as this lead us to believe that Mukunda will follow the footsteps of his father Rugendo and one day become the leader of his own family.
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UPDATE: Ruzirabwoba, the last of the missing solitary silverbacks, has been found alive and well near Jomba.
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4 Responses to “Silverback Bageni’s Wounds Healing Nicely, Silverback Mukunda Still Limping”
Thank you for this interesting update ! I’m very happy that Ruzirabwoba has finally been found
Ah the importance of family! Best wishes to Bageni & his entire family! Best wishes also to Mukunda and his family! Hope Mukunda quickly recovers and his wounds heal ASAP! Also best wishes to Ruzirabwoba! Thank goodness Ruzirabwoba is safe & sound!! Praying for the safety of All gorillas!!! Was Ruzirabwoba “missing” because he had ventured too far off to an unprotected area?
Thank you all at Virunga for keeping your eyes on the gorillas. I see this as a sign of hope not for the animals only. Humans are able to care for others and look out for them without expecting anything for themselves ( or did the gorillas send you a thank-you card signed by the entire family? just kidding
).
Any chance we could get some new pictures of Ruzirabwoba? He’s my favorite gorilla and I’m so happy he’s been found.