Uganda blessed with new born gorilla

Busingye Mountain gorilla group has been blessed with a new born. The gorilla, whose mother is Bakunda, is now one week old.

The group, which is habituated from the southern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, had seven members and the new born had excited rangers who are eagerly waiting for its naming ceremony. Interestingly these primates have names similar to that of humans.

“More members translate into more work and visitors and increased tourism revenue. So we are happy at every new born but Bakunda’s excites us since the mother is loved like her name Bakunda (loved),” a ranger said. 

Uganda has been blessed with the new born and with improved services of the tourism sector, we are hoping for the best for Uganda,” the ranger added. 

Conscious Enzuma, the Bwindi Park manager, confirmed the news of the new born when called on phone Thursday but did not give details as he was busy.

“We have the new born from the Busigye gorilla group which is now one week old but cannot get you details now because I am busy,” he said

But Lillian Nsubuga, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) spokesperson, said that the baby gorilla gives rare opportunity to visitors/ tourists who will be visiting this time round.

“But it is difficult to see in details and be able to take its photo since because both the mother and the silverback (group leader) are too protective and could even be violent if one tries to get closer to them,” she added.

She said the baby gorilla cannot move on its own and is carried by the mother under its stomach so protectively.

When asked about the sex of the new born, she said it is always very difficult to ascertain until later.

Nsubuga said Busigye is a breakaway group from Kahungye and is one of the habituated groups at Bwindi.

She also noted that the population of mountain gorillas is positively growing at Bwindi.  She said the population rose from 320 in 2002, to 340 in 2006 and to 400 in the census done in 2011. She said in 2008 they were blessed with two pairs of twins from one of the protected gorilla families.

King of the Jungle and famous African wildlife tourism product in danger

The roar of the lion sends chills up the spines of animals and people alike. The famed king of the jungle is one of the tourist attractions in Uganda.

 Lions are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Males defend the pride’s territory, marking their territory with urine and roaring menacingly to warn intruders away.

Lionesses are the primary food hunters. Their regular prey is always swifter on their feet than lions, so the lions work in teams to score a kill, and then they scramble to share the kill.

However, these big cats are under threat. A total of 11 lions are believed to have been killed by poachers since 2012. This was revealed by a senior warden at Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), Dr. Margaret Achiru, while delivering a paper on the status of tourism and protected areas.

“Since the missing lions were all tagged with identification gadgets, they could be traced electronically,” Tom Okello, the chief park warden at QENP said. “Over a few months, the identification tags went off the radar. I believe they were killed by poachers and the tags destroyed.”

A combination of civil strife and poaching greatly reduced wildlife populations between 1970 and the late 1980s. For example, to be elevated to a given social status, a Karamojong man must singly kill a lion and bring the carcass home as proof that he can protect his family and tribe. 

Superstitious soldiers involved in the LRA war in northern Uganda are reported to have enhanced their luck with fetishes that had a lion’s nails, paws and testicles.

To see a lion today, one has to dig deep in one’s wallet to go to Murchison Falls, Kidepo or Queen Elizabeth National Parks. Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe has lions in captivity.

Rwanda Volcanoes Gorilla Trekking Expedition

In August 2011, three male gorillas who had been members of Pablo’s group, the largest gorilla group the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International monitors (named after a legendary silverback), left the group together: Gushimira and Twihangane, two young 14-year-old silverbacks, and Irakoze, who at age 11 is a year shy of silverback status. The three males formed a bachelor group, which according to Gorilla Program Coordinator Veronica Vecellio “is a rare event and has been witnessed by Fossey Fund staff only one time prior to this.” Vecellio also notes that this bachelor group was especially unusual, as the three gorillas are not biologically related. “The only thing Gushimira, Irakoze and Twihangane had in common at the time was their age.”

However, shortly after the bachelor group formed the trackers were unable to locate their trail. In November 2011, Irakoze made a brief reappearance in Pablo’s group before disappearing yet again from both the group and the trackers’ sight. Despite the unusual nature of the non-familial bachelor group, considering that the three gorillas are at an adventurous age and had originally left on their own as a group, Fossey Fund staff assumed that they were still together and that the split occurred under normal circumstances. So when Gushimira was located on Feb. 20 this year for the first time since 2011, with a modest group of his own consisting of all three of the females from Ugenda’s group -- Kanama, Inziza, and Kurudi -- it was clear that the bachelor group was no longer together, which came as a great surprise.

On April 26, the mystery surrounding the disappearing bachelor group deepened, when trackers spotted Twihangane alone for the first time since he left with the bachelor group in late 2011. Twihangane was seen in an area that was once frequented by Pablo’s group and unusually near Musilikale’s group, a recent splinter from Pablo’s group, who were also lingering around their former group’s area. Twihangane, now 16, is the son of Mahane, the dominant female in Pablo’s group who recently transferred to Musilikale’s smaller subgroup. Twihangane’s mother’s presence in the Musilikale group might explain his proximity to them upon his return.

Gushimira with females Gushimira with females

As the gorilla community in Volcanoes National Park is very close-knit, we are not surprised at Twihangane reappearance, but it suggests more questions than answers. It is unclear why the bachelor group broke up and why Twihangane is still alone and what his intentions are for revisiting the area where his former group ranges. Additionally, we are still wondering where Irakoze has been all this time.

Cants bee, the oldest gorilla we now monitor, has been the dominant silverback in Pablo’s group for close to 19 years. In his old age, we have started to see other silverbacks in the group attempt to assert their dominance and take his place as top-ranking gorilla. According to Vercelli, “There have been occasions in the past where solo silverbacks have come into a group and attempted to establish dominance, particularly if the group was undergoing dominance shifts due to the old age or death of a dominant silverback.” Though Irakoze is still missing, we cannot exclude the possibility that he or Twihangane might reappear in Pablo’s group at the right time and attempt to take the dominant role, despite their long absences.