Mountain Gorilla predators
Mountain Gorillas are wild friendly forest dwellers that inhabit mountainous areas. Have a more black and thicker fur as compared to the other gorilla species.
They are in turn very stocky with distinct features such as broad chests , hands and feet and small eyes .
Mountain Gorillas are very friendly vegetarians that feed on mainly leaves, roots , shoots , stems , fruits and bamboos that exist within the forests they dwell in
Mountain Gorillas stay in groups and sleep in nests build with branches and stems of leaves.
Mountain Gorillas are the largest subspecies of primates in the world living in the Virunga mountains in the national parks of Volcanoes National park in Reanda and Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda with 98% genetic component similar to humans making them the closest cousins to humans
Predators and animals that hunt other animals for food. These are carnivores in nature existing in the eco system
The only natural existing wild predator of mountain Gorillas are leopards due to their big felines .
However. The leopards often hunt baby and infant gorillas since the mature gorillas often challenge them due to their physical size and strength
Also , these predators fear hunting huge gorilla families in fear of backlash.
On the other hand , humans stand as the biggest predators of mountain Gorillas with different predating activities such as
Gorilla hunting for meat and trophies
Also poachers kill mature gorillas to capture their infants for sale .
People living near forests kill Mountain Gorillas for eating their crops .
Also , poaching by humans due to illegal pet trade since some people keep gorillas as pets in private zoos.
Some traditional healers also kill gorillas due to their attachment gorillas to spiritual rites and use some of their body parts as charms
Gorillas also die from traps of some wild animals like antelopes.
These has led to different productive mechanisms adapted by mountain Gorillas to preserve themselves from the snares of predators such as
Once the silverback gorillas sense danger ,
They start to smell strongly and make alarms and noises .
The rest of the family members start to huddle up around the silverback and in most cases give each other hugs
The other silverbacks or blackbacks can sometimes lead the rest of the family to safety while the silverback fights back to defend them and is sometimes assisted by other silverbacks in the group
In a nutshell, mountain Gorilla predators are a threat to their already endangered population.
