Despite the suspension of gorilla trekking due to pandemic Covid-19, the park received two new born babies which have added on the population of gorillas in the jungle. The new born babies were born on 1st may 2020 and 25th may 2020 from Nshongi Gorilla family and Muyambi Gorilla family respectively.
The good news has spread like wildfire to the conservationist, researchers and trackers as well as tourism enthusiasts. The news of these two new born babies always bring joy to the people and gorilla families to where the babies belong.
According the the press release from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the babies were born between April 25 and May 1.
“The sexes of both baby gorillas are not yet known due to the tight security mounted by the parents to guard them against any danger. Gorillas tend to be very aggressive when they get a baby, therefore, it is not possible to get closer to establish the sex of the baby few days after birth,” UWA said.
One of the babies has been born to Kabagyenzi the mother and Bweza the silverback in Nshongi Gorilla Family. Meanwhile, UWA has not yet confirmed that the baby parents of Muyambi.
Despite the fact that they are new born babies, game rangers find it hard to get close to them because that are jealously protected by its family so the sexes of the babies are not yet known.
About Nshongi gorilla family
Nshongi was the first gorilla family to be habituated in Rushaga Sector in Southern Bwindi and it has been loved by tourists who go on Uganda gorilla safaris. At the time of habituation it had 35 members and it was the largest. The group later split and today it remained with 25 individuals. Despite the split of the gorilla family, Nshongi is still the largest gorilla family in the park.
Kabagyenyi the mother of the new born gorilla baby is found out to be over 10 years in Nshongi gorilla family because it joined the group as a sub adult. The new gorilla baby is known to be her first born child since Kabagyenyi was not originally an individual of Nshongi gorilla family.