How to survive A mountain Gorilla attack
Mountain gorillas belong to the Eastern gorilla species and they habit the tropical rainforests of Uganda , Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The mountain gorillas are found in the national parks of Bwindi impenetrable and Mgahinga National Park in Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Gorillas live up to 35 to 40 years in the wild and they grow to a height of between 1.25m to 1.8m weighing between 100kg to 270kg .
Gorillas live in families consisting of 5-30 members headed by a dominant male called a silverback .
There are about 1063 mountain gorilla individuals living in the three countries
Mountain gorillas are marked endangered as stated by IUCN due to poaching , habitat loss and diseases.
Mounatin gorillas feed on vegetation such as stems , leaves , bamboo , shoots , roots and fruits .
A male gorilla can feed up to 30kg of vegetation per day where as a female can feed about 18kg of vegetation per day.
Mountain Gorillas are also friendly apes with broad chests , hands and legs, tiny eyes and fearless faces.
However, they can become aggressive once they sense danger and as a response to the danger they first react by chest beating , thumping the ground, throwing vegetation, propping themselves with two hind legs , making loud noises to send warning to their challengers and in case the challenger doesn’t back off or show no sign of aggression , the mountain Gorilla will then attack through the following ; Scratching , biting , striking ,Dragging by legs or hands.
Different measures have been devised on how to survive the attack and this may include ;
Walk steadily and slowly step back and do not attempt to run away. This will help calm the gorilla
Crouch down and try as much to see that you keep calm , bend down or lower yourself and be smaller than the mountain Gorilla that way the mountain Gorilla will know that you are not interested in challenging it and therefore leave the attack
Closely follow gorilla trekking rules and regulations to avoid being out of gorilla do’s and don’ts that way you may not further intimidate the charging mountain gorilla
Emulate an ape by chewing vegetation , napping on the ground ,plucking leaves , throwing vegetation to show friendliness and it’ll calm the gorilla and stop the attack .
Avoid direct eye contact with mountain Gorillas as it gets very intimidating to look directly into a gorillas eye.
Conclusively, those are some of the ways to survive a mountain gorilla attack
