DRC: Virunga National Park announces birth of 2 mountain gorillas

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) Virunga National Park have announced the birth of two mountain gorillas, a development further boosting the endangered species’ baby boom under way in the country.

Conservationists have long sought to protect the world heritage site’s mountain gorilla population, even as violence and instability plagued the DRC’s eastern provinces in recent decades.

A male in the “Wilungula family” and a female from the “Humba family” were born on November 15, the park announced on Twitter on Wednesday, bringing the number of gorilla births since January to 16.

We’re extremely pleased to announce a new birth within the Humba family. On November 15th, the 19-year-old female Kanyalire gave birth to a female baby. This is the first birth within the Humba family this year, the family now has 15 individuals. pic.twitter.com/rBOqKoiXMN

— Virunga NationalPark (@gorillacd) November 17, 2021

The mountain gorilla population has increased fivefold in 40 years in the three countries where they live – the DRC, Uganda and Rwanda.

According to park records, their estimated population was only 58 in 1981, increasing to 131 in 2000, 201 in 2010 and 286 in 2016.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revised mountain gorillas’ status from “critically endangered” to “endangered” in November 2018.

Park authorities say their conservation success resulted from their so-called “extreme conservation” policy, including “daily close tracking of individual [gorillas] by rangers, trackers and vets”.

The nature reserve estimated its mountain gorilla population at 350 in mid-2021.

The conservation achievements came despite several armed groups operating in the area and targeting local populations.

The park said conservation efforts had “a significant financial cost” and the ecological challenges facing mountain gorillas “remain large” in an area with a high population density, poverty and chronic political instability.

The next comprehensive, cross-border mountain gorilla census is due in 2022.