The Uganda Wildlife Authority UWA) has shared the great news of a newborn baby gorilla in Bwindi National Park.
UWA spokesman Bashir Hangi has reported that an adult female known as Tomvi gave birth to a healthy baby on the Valentine’s Day 14/2/2023.
Tomvi belongs to the Mukiza Family that lives in the Ruhija sector within the northern part of the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. The baby gorilla was born on the valentine’s Day and indeed it has brought a bundle of joy to conservationists, tourists and Ugandans. This is Uganda’s and Bwindi’s first mountain gorilla baby count for this year.
The field teams of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the conservation body managing the park had earlier reported the birth of the baby but had failed to establish the sex of the baby due to the protective behaviors of new born babies by their parents.
However according to the latest news shared by the Uganda Parks website, the sex of the baby gorilla has been established as female.
The birth of the newborn baby has increased the number of the members in the Mukiza Family to 19 individuals. “The birth of the baby gorilla is a testimony to the many years of successful conservation efforts being put in the conservation of the mountain gorillas,” said Stuart Nayebare.
This is really good news to tourists who take guided expeditions into the tropical rain forest in search of the mountain gorillas.
Why Should we celebrate Gorilla Births
Gorilla births are something that we need to celebrate. Like humans, female gorillas usually give birth to one baby and twins are not common. This therefore means that the population of mountain gorillas grows slowly if compared to other wild animals.
In the 2020 covid-19 pandemic, Uganda reported a baby boom. The Bwindi impenetrable national park registered seven baby births in a span of just six weeks. This was from July 22nd to 31st August. Some people argued that the closure of the primate parks might have contributed to the 2020 baby boom.
In 2021 and 2022 alone, UWA registered fewer gorilla births than for the year 2020. The officials are yet to come out with a clarification on what they are doing differently to ensure that the baby births in Bwindi remain at the same level as it was in 2020.
Some people argued that gorilla trekking might have been one of the things that were limiting breeding among the mountain gorillas. It is however important to highlight that mountain gorillas are some of the world’s best conservation successes partly because of gorilla trekking.
It should be noted that Mgahinga gorilla national park has not registered any baby births in the last 4 years. All mountain gorilla births have been happening in Bwindi impenetrable national park. The last registered birth in Mgahinga national park was when part of Hirwa family that had migrated from Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park into the park. Unfortunately, the Hirwa family was struck by lightning in 2020 and it migrated back to Rwanda.
Mountain Gorillas, the Backbone of Tourism
Mountain gorillas are a key attraction in Uganda and a good number of tourists travel to the remote areas of Bwindi in south western Uganda. The park is the most visited national park and its conservation value appraised it to be among the UNESCO world heritage sites.
Bwindi impenetrable national park protects almost half of the world population of the mountain gorillas left in the whole world. According to the latest gorilla census, about 1050 mountain gorillas are left in the whole world.
These great apes live in two separate habitats; the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda and the Virunga Region which covers the mountains of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Currently, tourists can go gorilla tracking in only Bwindi Forest, Mgahinga National Park and the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda. The Virunga National Park of DR Congo is closed due the political tensions in the Eastern part of the country caused by the M23 rebels.
