There are estimated to be less than 900 left in the wild across Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In between doing the surveys I have also managed to fit in some fun things here in Rwanda including two visits to see the mountain gorillas. I am thrilled that I have completed the lodge staff surveys and community surveys for both the case studies in Botswana and Rwanda and am really looking forward to seeing the results from the surveys. When I return to Australia in December I will begin the data entry and analysis process. So, that is the end of the data collection for this research project. The early rains have started and so we’ve been caught in a few heavy showers-but I bought a great multi-coloured umbrella from the local market, which has been helpful in the sun and rain! We’ve now finished all the 50 household community surveys. It’s a large area so we have tried to ensure that we have covered as many people as possible, including trekking to communities on the Volcanoes National Park boundary and into outlying villages. Well, the past two weeks have flown by, and Angel and I have been very busy completing the community surveys across the two sectors.
Silverback gorilla hail full#
Rosemary is a full time Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at Charles Sturt University in Albury, New Sout. The dissolution of the larger family groups – one had included 65 individuals – was probably related to the deaths of charismatic silverback leaders, said Stoinski.Dr Rosemary Black is currently undertaking a research project for the AWF is based in Kasane in northern Botswana – the tourist hub for Chobe National Park. The number of infant deaths increased fivefold, and the population growth rate was halved. The groups spread out to occupy more territory within Volcanoes National Park, but the number of violent clashes among them increased threefold. Around that time, three large family groups splintered into multiple smaller units, and the overall population also grew.Īs a result, there were then about 10 family groups in the study area. She is also president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a nonprofit research and conservation group.ĭuring fieldwork in Rwanda, Stoinski said she witnessed changes in gorilla behavior beginning in about 2007. It turns out the answer depends partly on how they organize themselves socially,” said Tara Stoinski, a primatologist and co-author of the new paper.
“Everyone wants to know how many gorillas can live inside the protected habitat area. The frequency of gorilla family feuds was determined not by the total number of individuals, but by the number of family groups in a region, the study concluded. Males will fight to protect the females and infants in their group, and to acquire new females,” said Damien Caillaud, a behavioral ecologist at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of the new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. “Encounters between groups can be violent. Some gorillas, especially infants, perished, which slowed population growth. Most often, dominant males called silverbacks led the fights. Researchers who analyzed 50 years of demographic and behavioral data from Rwanda found that as the number of gorilla family groups living in a habitat increased, so did the number of violent clashes among them. These large vegetarian apes are generally peaceful – unless you’re a rival gorilla. Mountain gorillas spend most of their time sleeping, chomping leaves and wild celery stalks, and grooming each other’s fur with long, dexterous fingers. A crowded mountain can make silverbacks more violent, scientists say. WASHINGTON (AP) - Gorillas are highly sociable animals – up to a point. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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