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Mountain Gorilla
Gorilla beringei beringe
-0.966667, 29.6
Field Notes
Description:
The rangers told me that earlier this year Mwirima, the Silverback who was the alpha male of this family group of gorillas, died. With the death of Mwirima, a blackback male has taken over control of the family. The rangers were watching to see if he would be challenged, but it seemed that he had been accepted. He wasn't so old, his back was just starting to show signs of silver. (see link for more about the family)
This is the Rushegura Family Group, situated in the Buhoma region in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Photos of the family members.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbygott/13098960274/
http://www.bwindiforestnationalpark.com/rushegura-group.html
I think this might be Kalembezi.
Habitat:
Buhoma part of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest, SW Uganda
Notes:
The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The other is found in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is inhabited by a population of about 340 individual mountain gorillas, known as the Bwindi population, which makes up almost half of all the mountain gorillas in the world. Some primatologists consider the Bwindi population in Uganda may be a separate subspecies, though no description has been finished. As of November 2012, the estimated total number of mountain gorillas is around 880.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda on the rim of the Rift Valley. The hillsides which are mist-covered are sheltered by one of the ancient and very biologically varied rainforests in Uganda that dates back to more than 25,000 years, comprising of about 400 varied plant species. More notably, this “impenetrable forest” in addition protects an predictable 320 population of mountain gorillas – approximately half of the population in the world, among which are a number of habituated groups, that can be tracked by visitors.
In addition to the endangered impressive mountain gorillas there are also 346 bird species and more than 200 butterfly species, about 324 species of trees, ten of which are only found in this areas in the whole of Uganda.
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