The staff of Uganda Wildlife Authority- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park have risen to yet another ecstatic moment of a new baby gorilla in Buhoma. The young baby comes from Rushegura gorilla family born from Adult Female Ruterana increasing the family membership to 18 gorillas. This takes the tally of new births in the Bwindi forest to 5 in just six weeks! The new born marks Ruterana’s third offspring. Ruterana was born Jan, 1st, 2002 making her 18 years of age. This particular birth marks Ruterana’s third offspring. Ruterana particularly has not had a smooth tide with keeping her off springs alive. When she was 12 years, her first offspring born September, 13, 2012 sadly succumbed to Pneumonia while only fortnight old.
Rushegura family this year has been blessed with multiple births. On August, 27, 2020, Kibande of Rushengura gorilla family welcomed her second birth. Kibande’s new baby marks her fifth surviving offspring. She is also the most senior lady and kingmaker of the family.
Not long ago in April, 2020, Rushaga sector registered a birth of two babies in Muyambi and Nshongi gorilla groups. According to the Chief Warden BMCA Guma Nelson, the new babies then were thought to have been born on April 25 and May 1, 2020 respectively. Mother Kabagyenyi and Silverback Bweza of Nshongi were observed by the monitoring team of rangers tightly guarding the baby gorilla while in Muyambi group, silverback Muyambi was often seen on patrol to decisively protect the family’s new entrant. Adult Female Kabagyenyi joined Nshongi family from a wild group when she was a sub adult.
Muyambi group on the other hand is the newest group that opened to tourism in 2019. It has six family members. The unnamed mother joined the group from the wild. Muyambi was an adult member of Mubare family but split away from Mubare found a family of his own.
The Executive Director UWA Sam Mwandha Observed that “the birth of new mountain gorillas is testimony to Uganda’s successful conservation efforts. With enhanced integrity of protected areas, there has been a general increase in wildlife populations in Uganda,” he said.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature classifies the mountain gorilla as an endangered species. Uganda wildlife Authority continues to be committed to conservation and protection of gorillas to ensure that the population increases despite the Covid19 interruptions.