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We are happy to announce another birth in the Mapuwa mountain gorilla family! You might remember that on December 28th, this family welcomed the last infant gorilla of 2011, so this makes 2 newborns in this family in the last 2 months, and a total family of 18 members. The mother is Bikenge, and the father is silverback Mvuyekure.

Rangers have been observing lately that the females are gathering around silverback Nvuyekure more than silverback Mapuwa, and suspect that the reins of the family are changing. Mapuwa has been the lead silverback of the family for many years and his age is unknown.  Nvuyekure is only 21 years old.

Father Silverback Mvuyekure

It is with great joy that we can announce the birth of two new mountain gorilla babies discovered by our rangers in the last few days of December. The babies were born into two different gorilla familes: the Kabirizi and the Mapuwa families. What a great way to end the 2011 year!

The Mapuwa family is now at 17 members and the Kabirizi family, which has experienced both births and deaths this year, has 33 members, our largest family.

This is the 2nd baby for mother Maheshe of the Kabirizi family. Her first baby died in April of 2010 from natural causes.

Let’s hope that 2012 will be a good year of growth for all our mountain gorilla families.

Mother Maheshe and her newborn baby - the last of 2011.

On December 13, the Chief Park Warden of Virunga National Park, Emmanuel de Merode, called Dr. Eddy to report that rangers had found a mountain gorilla caught in a poacher’s trap in the Jomba region of the park. The gorilla, Dunia, a four- or five-year-old female belonging to the Mapuwa family, had a rope snare around her right wrist and the wrist appeared swollen and possibly lacerated. Ranger Desire Sekibibi was able to cut the long end of the rope from the vegetation where it was tied. While Dunia was free to move with the rest of the group, the actual snare remained tight around her wrist. Ensnared gorillas can lose limbs and possibly die from infections in the snare wounds, so Dunia’s situation was an emergency.

Emmanuel asked the Gorilla Doctors for help, and an intervention team was quickly formed to travel to DR Congo. Dr. Jean-Felix joined Dr. Eddy at the MGVP headquarters in Rwanda and Dr. Jan, who thought she had finished her final day of work with MGVP last week, was called out of retirement for one last intervention. Because Jomba is on the far northern end of the Virunga Massif in Congo, it was fastest to travel through Uganda to reach the group’s location. The Gorilla Doctors spent the night in Kisoro, Uganda, and planned an intervention for early the next morning. Silverbacks are usually extremely agitated and aggressive the day a member of their family is caught in a snare, so it is considered safer to give the group a night to calm down before intervening.

On the morning of the 14th, the Gorilla Doctors met a team of Virunga National Park rangers at the Congo border and drove to Jomba to begin the trek near the base of the Sabyinyo volcano. An advance team of trackers and rangers found the group eating wild banana trees inside a narrow crater on the side of the mountain.

The Mapuwa family has 15 members, including two silverbacks, Mapuwa and Nvuyekure, and blackback Mambo. The team found most of the group feeding on banana trees with Nvuyekure. However, Mapuwa and Mambo were about 75 meters from the rest of the group guarding Dunia. At first it was difficult to see Dunia clearly, as Mapuwa and Mambo kept her hidden the dense vegetation.

After a few minutes, Mambo sat down within 3 meters of the intervention team and blocked their access to the trail so that Mapuwa and Dunia could return to the rest of the group.

The Gorilla Doctors were able to get a good look at Dunia as she passed by and the snare was gone! She was clearly limping in pain and had a small wound on her wrist, but with the snare off, so she was no longer in immediate danger.

The Gorilla Doctors and park rangers consulted with Emmanuel de Merode by phone to determine the best course action. Dr. Eddy recommended that Dunia be darted with antibiotic and anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce her pain and the possibility of infection rather than sedate her for a full examination. A full examination would allow the doctors to inspect the wounded wrist up close and determine if Dunia had other injuries, but using anesthesia always carries risks for the gorilla. Having one of its members sedated and inspected by humans also greatly disturbs gorilla groups. The silverbacks may become violent or the whole group might flee and leave the sedated animal behind. It is challenging to make such veterinary decisions when working with wild animals in an uncontrolled environment, so it was important to consider the options for Dunia carefully. Eventually, the group decided to follow Dr. Eddy’s recommendations.

Once Dunia had joined the rest of group, the silverbacks relaxed and Dr. Eddy and Ranger Desire were able to approach her. Hiding the dart gun behind Desire so that Dunia would not see it and flee, Dr. Eddy shot a dart into her thigh. Dunia quietly pulled the dart out and walked away.

Thanks to the snare coming off on its own and the easy darting, the day proved a great success. The Gorilla Doctors and rangers are still concerned for Dunia’s recovery, so rangers will monitor her closely over the next few days. If she continues to limp or shows signs of infection, the Gorilla Doctors will return to perform another intervention.

I got a call yesterday morning from rangers in Jomba, a gorilla area close to the Ugandan border, reporting that a 6-year old gorilla was caught in a snare. I immediately drove to the area about 3 hours away with ranger Sekibibi, and called the MGVP Gorilla Doctors for a possible intervention.

We discovered that the rope snare had caught her by the wrist. She was in a panic by the time the rangers managed to cut the rope to free her, but the rope is still attached to her wrist which appeared swollen. There was blood on her fingertips, possibly from her own biting which is a common reaction when a gorilla is caught in a snare.

It’s possible the gorilla might remove the rope herself, but the Gorilla Doctors, including Dr. Jan Ramer, are coming this morning prepared for an intervention to remove the rope. Dr. Jan, who is still in Rwanda, jumped at the chance to come back to Congo for one last intervention to help a mountain gorilla.

This is the only time in 2011 that a gorilla has been caught in a snare in Virunga National Park. This is an extremely low incident rate for the gorilla sectors of the three countries with mountain gorillas, thanks to the regular patrols and monitoring by our rangers.

This gorilla is part of the Mapuwa family, a 16-member mountain gorilla habituated group.

We’ll keep you updated on the intervention today. Hoping the wound is not serious.

Silverback Mvuyekure, one of two silverbacks in the Mapuwa family, with one of the juvenile gorillas during a patrol and health check September.

The Mapuwa Family of Mountain Gorillas has split again into two different groups, each led by a Silverback. Mapuwa – son of Rugendo and brother of Humba - has 6 individuals, including the female Kagofero. Nvuyekure – the 19-year old son of Rugabo – has formed his own group with 8 individuals, including the females Kanepo, Jicho and Bitangi.

Nvuyekure and Bitangi
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