gorilla.cd

Earlier this year we announced the results our Mountain Gorilla Survey and several journalists came to visit us in the Gorilla Sector to cover the story.

One of them was Matthew Clark from the Christian Science Monitor who went with me into the forest to see the Humba Family . His photographer also spent some time with us and even took pictures at my house with my (human!) family.

Click here to see the video on the Christian Science Monitor website (click on image to watch video)

Another journalist who came was Stevan Lovgren- he filmed a video for the Smithsonian. It includes footage from a visit with the Rugendo Family and from an anti-charcoal operation at Mwaro , the last bit of forest connecting the Gorilla Sector with the rest of the park. (

Since the morning of the gorilla massacre in July 2007, the wanderings of the Rugendo family has continued to worry us. Unfortunately, even though the family has a new leader, after Senkekwe was killed, they still move very close to the edge of the park, often moving into people’s fields and eating their crops.

Kongomani eating stalks of maize

This is a real problem, because it creates a lot of tension with local farmers, who lose their valued crops, and puts the Rugendo family at risk. The Lulengo family also have a bad habit of leaving the park, and the Humba gorillas were found in a field in mid-February.

The threat of human/animal conflict is real. Back in 2003, a juvenile in the Rugendo group called Bahati (whose mother Neza was subsequently killed in the unrelated 2007 attack) was stoned to death by locals in a field in Bikenge

Pili-Pili caught red-handed

We are fighting to find a solution. In the past, IGCP helped to set up a local association called HUGO (HUmans + GOrillas), who guard the crops by pushing the gorillas back into the forest using drums. It seems the technique doesn’t work anymore- the gorillas are no longer scared of the drums. In fact, I’m told they enjoy the sound and allegedly start dancing when the drums appear (I think I’d like to see that).

We have arranged to continue working with the HUGOs, and we’re looking into other solutions, like a cycle path around the gorilla sector to help the rangers reach the trouble spots very quickly to resolve any problems. In any case, we’re worried as the Rugendo group are at risk, and we need to find a solution. Putting powdered pili-pili (hot chilly) on the crops close to the park might be a solution, as you can buy it by the sack-load in Rwanda.

Mukunda

For now, the Rugendo group has gone back into the park, since at the moment bamboo shoots are available, which they prefer. We have a few months to find a viable solution to a serious problem. Thoughts on this are most welcome…

I have just completed the profiles of the mountain gorillas we lost back in July 2007, with Diddy and Samantha. I also wrote the profile for Nsekuye, the adult female killed in June 2007 of the Kabirizi family. It stirs up many memories writing the profiles and looking through the photographs.

Please just click on any of the photos above and it will link to the profile.

Of course we need to make sure this kind of atrocity does not happen again and we have been working hard on the briquette project - the alternative to charcoal. Balemba and Bosco will be posting on the progress made in coming days… as will Virginia who is coming back to work with us on developing a feasible alternative to the illegal charcoal that is destroying the forests of Virunga.

Watch this space…

Since we reported the sighting and identification of the Rugendo Family and the Mapuwa Family last month we have been observing the behaviour of the gorillas daily. Trackers and Rangers go out in teams every morning to locate the families and make note of any health and behavioral issues. They also photograph and video the gorillas when this kind of documentation is required.

Recently we have seen interactions between the Silverbacks in both families. So that means that in the Rugendo Family Bukima and Pili-Pili are fighting almost daily and in the Mapuwa Family Nvuyekure and Mapuwa are coming to blows on a regular basis.

Blood spotted on the forest floor after an interaction between Mapuwa and Nvuyekure

Now this behaviour is normal - when you have 2 or more Silverbacks in a group there is always one that is vying for dominance of the other gorillas and control of the group. But it is very important for us to monitor these exchanges - that can vary from posturing to extreme violence - and protect the remaining gorillas in the families.

Bikenge - a Sub-Adult Female in the Mapuwa family - was injured on her thigh during an interaction between Mapuwa and Nvuyekure.

Bikenge tries to lick her wounds.

Noel was injured in the face in the Rugendo Family interactions - you can see the blood clearly.

Mukunda also sustained injuries - and all of these cases are being monitored closely. So far the wounds appear to be superficial but it is extremely important to track recovery. I am happy to tell you that Bonane is now fine after being caught up in the Humba/Kabirizi interaction mid-December.

But while interactions are necessary we hope that this round will end soon.

We have some excellent news. We have finally seen the Rugendo Family, our most habituated group of gorillas in Congo, but also the most traumatized after the July 2007 massacre.

I am extremely happy to report that the family now numbers 9 individuals - up from 5.

The family still has the same 5 individuals who made up the family in August 2007 - that is Mukunda (Diddy’s favorite gorilla!), Kongomani, Baseka, Noel and Bavukahe.

Baseka, Noel and Kongomani… just doing fine!

Today the group is also being led by 2 Silverbacks - Pili-Pili and Bukima, who were both solitary last August.

Bukima - he used to be a solitary Silverback like Karateka but now he has a family

In addition Lubutu - who if you remember was missing from the Humba family - is fine and well with the Rugendo family!

Baseka… looking on

And finally, a new female that we have never seen before has joined the group. We have named her Bariyanga, after a Ranger who died from illness this October.

Bariyanga - this is the first ever photo of her. We hope to take many more.

The moment of seeing the Rugendo family, with the new individuals, brought great joy to me, Diddy and the other Rangers. It really was one of the best days so far of the census. This family has always been special to us because Rangers started habituating the group back in the mid 1980s. And after the massacre of July 2007 we wondered whether the gorillas would manage to stay together. Not only have they stayed together, but they have grown, are healthy and now have a new family structure.

We have launched profiles of the Mountain Gorillas of Virunga!

A profile includes the gorilla’s age, sex, parents, offspring, siblings, character, quirks, history… we have tried to be as comprehensive as possible.

Go to the home page and you will see a graphic half way down on right hand side…

OR just click on mountaingorillas.gorillacd.org (or picture below) and you will see this:

Then you can click on one of the 3 families that we have profiled so far, either Kabirizi Family, Humba Family or Rugendo Family. This is what the Kabirizi Family looks like:

And the final stage is that you can click on the individual profile of each gorilla in these families - like Kabirizi, Humba, Mutazimiza or Bonane, or 2 of the Solitaries that have been profiled to date.

This is what Kabirizi’s profile looks like:

So what do you think?

As you can imagine this is a work in progress. I started working on this with Diddy and Innocent in late October, and we have spent a lot of time going through all the personnalities and pecularities of these wonderful creatures.

There are still other gorillas to profile and other families: Lulengo, Mapuwa, Munyaga, for example. And we will get there eventually. We will be updating these profiles too with the new census information as it becomes available.

But in the meantime ANY suggestions you have are simply more than welcome and if they are possible we will do our best to put them in place.

One project we have is to put the avatars of the gorillas as links in all the profile posts - but I have to be on a better internet connection to embark on that project. But we will certainly be doing that which will make it more visual and fun.

As far as I know no one has profiled gorillas like this on the web. Diddy, Innocent and all the other Rangers working with the gorillas are thrilled at the idea of having this information available to students, teachers, scientists, conservationists and gorilla aficionados at large.

Thanks everyone and please please leave your thoughts, suggestions & comments.

This is Diddy. Exactly one year ago today we discovered the bodies of the gorillas that had been killed on 22 July 2007. Today we all paused to remember the gorillas from the Rugendo family group.

Emmanuel and Innocent over the body the silverback Senkwekwe

Innocent at the time had written an account of happened on that fateful day. We are all very disappointed that the people responsible are still at large one year on, but we are confident that justice will eventually prevail.

By coincidence, the Rugendo family had been filmed by a visitor shortly before the attack:

Upload this to Facebook

We need your grant to publish this video to your Facebook profile.

Video Published

An error occurs - Try later...

This video is too long to be uploaded to Facebook.

This may take some time...

This is Pierre. It is great to see so many comments about the gorillas on this blog. Thank you everyone!

I just thought I would share with you some more photos of the gorillas we lost on that tragic day last July:

Senkewekwe with Innocent

Neza

Safari with Ndeze (now one of the orphans in the care of Dr Jacques and Dr Eddy)

Mburanumwe

Macibiri and Ntaribi

This a major breakthrough. Honore Mashagiro has been arrested for allegedly masterminding the mass killing of Mountain Gorillas in June and July Last year. He was in a position of great responsibility, and allegedly used his authority to promote the destruction of forest for charcoal to make money. This threatened the gorilla habitat, so when the rangers tried to protect the forest, he allegedly orchestrated the gorilla massacres to discourage them. Many of you will remember those terrible days when we discovered the burned remains of Safari, and the the bodies of the rest of the Rugendo family, including Senkwekwe, the silverback.

Senkekwe, shortly after the massacre in July last year

The charges against Mashagiro were brought against him by the state, through ICCN, the wildlife authority, and is testimony that the rule of law can be brought into effect, even when it concerns powerful people. It is definitely a moment of hope for all of us, but obviously we await the outcome of a trial before saying any more.

Results like this take time, but it is so important never to give up. We don’t yet have all the details, but will update you in the coming days.

This is Jean Bosco. As you know, I am the Community Conservation Officer for the southern sector of Virunga National Park.

After the massacre of the Rugendo family in July, we carried out a project in communities to raise awareness about protecting Mountain Gorillas, through the use of films and talks. We did this in schools, churches and the military camps of the 9th brigade. Our team consisted of Director Norbert Mushenzi (my boss), and 3 people from WWF, including Grand-pere (which means Grandfather in English), Gerard and Modogo.

Director Norbert Mushenzi opened the talks. The first session took place near the military camp at Rumangabo.

I also participated in each session. This one is in a church.

People listened.

By watching the film and listening to our talks, the communities were able to better understand the importance of gorillas as part of our national heritage. We talked about the way of life of gorillas, and how they behave in the family unit. Mountain gorillas are different to other animals for us.

These are children at a school who live near the Gorilla Sector.

Grand-pere from WWF spoke. He also spoke in Lingala at this military camp because many of the military here are from the west of the country.

Here again are members of the military and their wives. They enjoyed the films and asked us to come back.

And this one is at a church in Buvunga, 2km north of Rumangabo park station.

Justin, a trainee, talks to the congregation.

The people who took part and watched the films all condemned the July killings.

Jean Bosco

Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect