Do mountain gorillas live in families? Mountain gorillas are intelligent and giant wild animals which are known as endangered species which are 98% in DNA relationship with human beings and they are sometimes called human cousins. Gorillas have 2 types of species’ that is, Mountain Gorillas and lowland Gorillas. Mountain gorillas are spotted in central part of Africa and lowland gorillas are located in captivity that is zoo.

In Uganda, gorillas are found in Mgahinga and Bwindi National Park and yes they live in families. They are also found in DR Congo and Rwanda. In the Virunga, gorillas are hard to be seen because they are shy and social apes which line in a group called troop. The harems size is adjustable and it includes 30-60 family members. The largest gorilla family is hosted in Rwanda and it consists 65 members.

The male silverback is an adult gorilla which leads its other adult females and young ones and because of its maturity it is entrusted as leader. Mountain gorillas involve 40% of adult males and they are nearer related. The troop of the family is composed of more females than males and you will know why males always fight for power. The mountain gorilla family do their day to day activities in the forest like feeding, playing and grooming their young ones.

Once the head silverback dies, the group will put another leader and mostly the eldest son of the deceased leader will take the leadership role. The females will leave to join another family before reproducing at the age of 8-10 years. The female in the first family will reproduce due to the fact that it is in its permanent family and the late arrivals are not given the priority but when male gorilla is separated from its parents, it will remain solitary until they form their own family.  This process lasts for so long and the process only begins when the male separates itself from its own parents.

In Uganda, there are 12 mountain gorilla groups which stay in Mgahinga National Park. Some of these gorilla families are also found in the 4 sectors of Bwindi National Park. In Rushanga sector, you will find 5 gorilla families that include Busingye, Nshongi, Bweza, Kahungye, Mishaya. Buhoma sector is composed of 3 families like Habinyanja, Rushegura, Mubare and in Ruhija you will find families like Oru Zongo, Bitukura, Kya Guriro, and we have Nkuringo family and Nyakagezi family.

With the above, you can tell that mountain gorillas live in families.