Summary:

Hopefully from these pages on mountain gorilla animal behavior, it has been conveyed that the gorilla is a highly aggressive animal with a large, overlapping home range. They are often thought to be “slow” or “dumb” because of their sluggishness, but in fact they are capable of maintaining a social organization. The most popular groups of gorillas are in harems, then multi-male/multi-female groups, and finally solitary or all-male herds. In regards to mating, gorillas exhibit female-defense polygyny. These aspects of their behavior arise from a number of factors, which include: (a) the large number of females in each harem, (b) a primarily abundant and evenly distributed folivorous diet (c) their scattered distribution throughout the mountains, (d) the large numbers of females that aggregate together, and (e) the tight bond between a female and the dominant male for protection from other silverbacks. The factors that govern and shape gorilla life are numerous and intertwined. As a result, the gorilla lives a harsh life in the mountains. Mountain gorillas are highly endangered due both to habitat destruction and severe poaching pressures. With humans as their only effective predators, without conservation support, the mountain gorilla will not be able to survive.

A Bright Future?

The future risks of extinction of the world’s most endangered gorilla are more than an aesthetic concern. Gorillas are clearly one of our closest relatives if not the closest, sharing 98% of our genome (Lindsley et al., 2001). Primates hold the keys to understanding and combating infectious diseases, like HIV, that plague modern humans and play vital roles in their ecological communities (Strier, 2000). With stakes as high as these, understanding the diversity of lifestyles that characterize gorilla order becomes more than an interesting intellectual endeavor.

Field workers have long fought to provide greater protection for the gorillas of Africa (Maple and Hoff, 1982). Efforts have been made primarily focused on the mountain gorillas since, as described in the discussion of gorilla habitat, their numbers are so dangerously low, and human encroachment has been so rapid and obtrusive. Strier (2000) insists, “efforts to protect remaining mountain gorilla populations and their habitats require cooperation at all levels of society, from local people living in or near gorilla communities, to regional, national, and international governments.” Yet, conservation interests, commitments, and compliance levels are often widely disparate among and within these groups, particularly when individual livelihoods and economic or political gains or losses are involved (Strier, 2000).

Eco-tourism, which can theoretically bring in large sums of money, has worked in the short-term for mountain gorillas (Strier, 2000). However, tourism is an unreliable source of long-term revenue because the tourist industry is determined as much by economic and political upheavals as by conservation objectives. Armed conflicts in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have made the mountain gorilla sanctuary in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda, inaccessible to tourists and conservation groups alike (Maple and Hoff, 1982).

Despite the economic or political constraints, scientific and public interest in gorillas continues to grow. With this growing interest has come greater concern for and commitment to studying mountain gorillas and ensuring their future survival. The conservation of eastern gorillas has been reviewed in detail by Goodall and Groves (Maple and Hoff, 1982). Recommendations by Goodall and Groves include: formulations of realistic land-use management plans, cessation of habitat incursions, habitat creation, gorilla relocation experiments, and the strict enforcement of all existing national park statutes and regulations. I sincerely hope that no following generation of behaviorists will inherit the tragic legacy of living through the extinction of one of the world’s most endangered primates.