Interesting Facts About Baby Gorillas: Mountain gorillas are one of the fascinating creatures in the world and are one interest of any primate lover, people from all over the world are interesting in knowing about mountain gorillas. From their existence, how they thrive in their habitat and most important about the adorable babies.
These Great Apes are the biggest draw for travelers on Africa safari to Uganda and Rwanda, these gentle giants live in only three African countries that is Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Though many people are interested in seeing these gentle giants, only a few have go the opportunity mainly because gorilla trekking is limited to a few people while on both Uganda safaris and Rwanda Safaris.
Here are the interesting facts about Baby Gorillas
New born gorillas are normally so small in size (even smaller than human babies), they are very fragile and usually weigh between 1.4 and 1.8 kilograms which is interestingly half of the average weight of human baby.
These babies grow faster and reach sexual maturity by the age of 10 for females and 13 years for the males. Additionally, an adult gorilla weighs almost twice what an average human being weighs.
Weight for a female gorilla ranges from 90 to 113 kilograms while for a male gorilla, their weight ranges between 135 and 220 kilogram.
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Close physical contacts are maintained with their mothers for five to six months
Mothers (female gorillas) stay in close physical contact with their baby gorillas for the first five to six months of birth and the essence of this, is to ensure safety of the weak and defenseless babies in addition to watching their tracks as they actively go about foraging, playing or moving and providing the much needed comfort during its early stages of life.
Normally, baby gorillas begin manipulating objects and discovering their surrounding by three months old. Once they make 8 months, these babies will be walking and well as discovering their surroundings within a few meters from the mother. With age, they become braver and more independent to the point of ranging further in the company of their old siblings or silverbacks.
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Mothers are the primate caregivers but always helped by other family members in raising babies
Raising a baby gorillas is not a work of only a gorilla mother or father, it is a duty of all members of the particular gorilla family such as juveniles. The baby gorillas stay in close proximity with their mothers, even sharing close relationships for the first 1-3 years. Generally mothers are protective of their babies and for mountain gorillas’ nature, she will try as much as possible to keep the them (babies) from getting close to other curious gorillas.
- Baby gorilla usually don’t know their biological fathers
From genetic analysis and observations, researchers can ascertain gorilla paternity, however the babies don’t know who really their fathers are. This has been attributed to a number of reasons that include the fact that gorilla families normally have numerous silverbacks that have possibly mated with the mother, or the fact that the gorilla’s mother moved from another gorilla family.
Several studies have discovered that baby gorillas prefer spending time and interacting more with other silverbacks than their own biological fathers, it is from here that the assumption of baby gorillas not knowing their biological fathers gains more support.
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Silverbacks tremendously help in offering care to baby gorillas
As fathers, silverbacks normally offer a helping hand to female gorillas when raising their babies. Though baby gorillas don’t know their fathers, a case point is Silverback Can babysit (one of the gorillas studied and named by Dian Fossey) was always referred to as “babysitter” for up to 5 to 6 months as their mothers were foraging.
It was discovered that blackbacks have tendencies of spending a lot of time playing with infants, also the juveniles have greater chances of fathering babies on reaching adulthood.
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Baby gorillas can hum and sing as a sign of satisfaction
To show their satisfaction after a delicious meal, baby gorillas start humming and singing. These beautiful creatures do sing and hum to show satisfaction especially after enjoying a delicious meal and it is also common among adult gorillas.
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There are cases of twin babies among gorillas
Though not common like in humans, cases of twin babies in mountain gorillas have been seen and it is an exceptional sight to see. The general gestation period of mountain gorillas is 8.5 months and usually give birth after every three to four months, in a lifetime gorillas give birth to up to 6 babies.
However, it is an exceptional case to male gorillas that are likely to sire up to 20 infants in a life time.