How do gorillas react to the death of colleagues?

Gorillas are known to be closely related to humans especially after scientists discovered that they share up to 98% of the human DNA.

A few lucky travelers that have got have got a chance to track these endangered primates in their natural habitat have also given the same testimony after watching the behavior of gorillas they come to the same conclusion that these amazing apes are very similar to humans.

It is established that gorillas are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos and they are the largest living primates.

There are two major categories of gorillas including the lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas. Lowland gorillas are further divided into two other sub groups including western lowland gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas.

Mountain gorillas live in the montane forests of the Albertine Rift region of Virunga Mountains that are shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lowland gorillas live in the forested regions with lowland swamps and mashes with western lowland gorillas occupying the Central West African countries like Cameroon while eastern lowland gorillas live in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo near the border with Rwanda.

Gorillas grief for their dead!

Like many other human behaviors that are shred with gorillas, the recent research indicates that gorillas too grief for their dead like humans.

Video footage shows gorillas surprisingly reacting to the dead bodies of their colleagues who were from both known and unknown groups to them in a way of showing sympathy.

Gorillas are seen gathering around a dead silverback while staring, touching and poking it. The young ones touched the body grooming and licking both the body and their own fingers.

Although the mourning gorilla family seemed not to know the dead gorilla, they passionately took interest in him.

This strange wild scene unfolded while researchers of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund were shadowing the Chimanuka gorilla family in Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

According to the researchers, this type of behavior was rarely seen even among the close social groups and they were surprised to observe it with the gorilla from an outside family.

Naturally gorillas tend to separate from those who don’t belong to the same group and if they get in touch, it’s always a fight.

The compassion shown to the body of a gorilla from a strange group raised eyebrows among people about how gorillas could be perceiving death.

Another gorilla group in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park was also observed by the same researches touching, poking, licking and grooming two bodies of gorillas though this time they belonged to the same gorilla family.

The researchers noted that these Virunga Mountain gorillas responded in the similar to the body of an unknown gorilla as they did to the bodies of their own group members. However, they note that a lot is still unknown for them to come up with the conclusive evidence of how gorillas perceive death.

What the researchers saw gave them an insight to believe that it is possible that animals too feel emotion including grief to those that have passed on.

About mountain gorilla tourism

Today there are about 1,000 mountain gorillas that live in separate national parks within the Virunga Mountains including Volcanoes National Park (Rwanda), Virunga National Park (DR Congo) and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (Uganda). Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda is outside the Virunga Mountains though not far away and it possesses about half of this population.

Mountain gorillas can be visited by tourists through well-arranged gorilla safaris or tours with either a local tour operator of wildlife authorities in these countries.

The cost of trekking mountain gorillas differs in all the three countries with Rwanda the most expensive selling their gorilla permit at $1,500 with Uganda second at $600 while DR Congo is the cheapest at $450 though their security issues around the park have become a big obstacle to the activity.

It is highly recommended to book your gorilla trekking safari at least 6 months ahead because the gorilla permits are very limited mainly due to high demand by travelers and secondly due to conservation regulations.

Travelers going for gorilla trekking are first briefed about the activity and then arranged into groups of 8 with each trekking a separate gorilla family. Trekkers spend one hour with the gorillas according to the regulations though they are allowed to take photos and videos of the apes while in their natural habitat.