Most of us will only ever get to see a mountain gorilla if it’s in a zoo behind bars. But what would it be like to walk among them in the wild? Chris Whittier had a rare opportunity to do just that while serving as the regional field veterinarian for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park from 2001 to 2006. He brought back compelling photos that reveal the individual personalities and group dynamics of the greatest of the great apes. His images are of Virunga Mountain gorillas. Although about a third of them are wild, the rest have been habituated by humans so that they can be monitored closely and receive veterinary care.
Photographs by Chris Whittier, D.V.M., Ph.D.“The crater lake at the top of Mt. Visoke on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most spectacular places in Volcanoes National Park. The day I took this photo was the only time I ever saw gorillas up there. It was the Beetsme group of about 25 gorillas. They were known to go up there a couple of times a year, but no one really knows why. There’s not nearly as much to eat up there as in other parts of their habitat, so you have to wonder if they came there for the view too. Bwenge, the gorilla in this photo, came prancing toward me and sort of posed just as the mist lifted over the crater. He’s the third ranked of four silverbacks in the group.”
“There had been reports of a respiratory outbreak and a dead baby in Pablo’s Group, so we went to check on them and recover the baby’s body to test it for infectious disease. It had rained hard the night before so the two moms in this photo, Mtimbili and Tamu, were lounging around with their babies in the early morning sun, warming up. The natural infant mortality rate of gorillas is 30 percent, but because these gorillas receive veterinary care, the rate has dropped to 10 percent, which is a big part of why their population is growing.”
“All gorillas go through this crazy hairdo stage around the time they’re a year old. This 11-month-old male, Segasira, belonged to Beetsme’s group. Although the juveniles begin to explore moving away from their mom at this age, they stay in physical contact with her almost 100 percent of the time.”
“One day a new group showed up out of nowhere led by a silverback that was habituated. We speculated that he must have previously belonged to a habituated group but left to form his own group. There were a couple of possible candidates, males that had disappeared from established groups. Using the photos I took of him, we were eventually able to figure out who he was by his nose print. Every gorilla’s nose print is unique, which helps researchers to identify individuals.”
“This photo was taken the same day as the photo of the gorilla above the crater lake. Here Bwenge is in the background. In the foreground is Kuryama, the second ranked silverback in Beetsme’s group, and in the middle is Ubwigenge, who isn’t quite a silverback. Males develop a silver back when they become sexually mature at around age 13.”
“The baby in this photo is just two days old. Ordinarily it’s impossible to get a photo of a baby gorilla, as the moms are so protective. However, this mom, Mahirwe, is super habituated. Although she has the baby safely tucked under her arm, it’s somewhat exposed. Gorillas are born with pink flesh on their faces that turns black within a couple of weeks.”
“Kampande on the left isn’t a silverback yet, and Kurira on the right is the dominant male in the Susa group, one that a lot of tourists visit. Kampande had just been showing off to the two gorillas in the background and came strutting through the clearing when he realized that Kurira was sitting there eyeing him. In this picture, Kampande is trying to play it cool and not provoke a reaction from Kurira.”
“I took this photo of Ruhuka, a sub-adult male in Pablo’s Group, on the last day I spent in the field with the gorillas. Ordinarily a gorilla his age would be eating or interacting with other gorillas, but he was sitting quietly and seemed to be contemplating something. I like this image because it sort of captures a teenager at that awkward age of becoming an adult.”
880 = Total number of mountain gorillas in 2011
782 = Total number of mountain gorillas in 2006*
The mountain gorilla population has increased in recent years due to conservation efforts. The number of mountain gorillas that can be supported within their very limited range is unknown.
To learn more about mountain gorillas, visit the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project’s website: http://www.gorilladoctors.org.
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