Are mountain Gorillas going extinct ?
Mountain Gorillas are an endangered species of primates.
They live on the Virunga mountain slopes along the borders of Rwanda and Democratic republic of congo.
They also live in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga National Park in Uganda.
Mountain Gorillas are natural vegetarians that feed on mainly leaves , shoots , roots , stems and fruits and bamboo as well as insects
A male adult gorilla can eat up to 30kg of vegetation per day and an adult female can eat up to 18kg per day.
Mountain Gorillas have tiny eyes and broad chests , long and powerful arms , protruding abdomen , and prominent crest on top of their skull
Mountain gorillas are large creatures with a male weighing about 270kg and a female about 100kg .
Gorillas grow up to a height of 1.3m to 1.8m and can live for about 35 to 40 years in the wild.
Mountain gorillas are very peaceful creatures that never attack unless they are threatened.
The magnificent creatures live in families which implies they are social animals . A family comprises of about 5 to 30 members and headed by a dominant male known as a silverback .
The silverback plays significant roles such as protecting the family , mating with the family and deciding feeding and sleeping times.
Are mountain gorillas going extinct?
Over the years. Their number had greatly reduced due to their low rate of reproduction as well as gross human activities such as deforestation, poaching , bush meat hunting for their different reasons.
This made the mountain Gorilla population greatly drop that caused need for world wide spirited fight to see to the conservation of mountain Gorillas .
Those organizations included
Rwanda development board
Uganda Wildlife Authority
International Gorilla Conservation Programme
African Wildlife Foundation.
All these joint efforts saw an increase in the mountain Gorilla population saving the specie from great extinction .
According to mountain Gorilla population census , the mountain Gorilla population increased from 1004 in 2018 to 1063 in 2024 .
The different gorilla conservation teams have also come up with various measures to see to the continued existence of mountain Gorillas including creating gorilla safety awareness among people, serious penalties on bush meat hunting ,
Free medical services are also being given to the mountain Gorillas by Gorilla Doctors that has ensure great promotion of their health .
It is therefore very safe to say mountain gorillas are not going to extinct because of the serious conservation measures put forward.
