Incredibly rare mountain gorilla twins born in Virunga: 'It’s kind of miraculous'
The twins were born to a 22-year-old female named Mafuko, who lost her own mother to armed individuals. The extremely endangered species currently numbers at just over 1,000.
With just over 1,000 mountain gorillas left in the wild, any evidence of reproduction is cause for celebration. But the news out of the Democratic Republic of Congo this week is doubly exciting—a female mountain gorilla named Mafuko was photographed holding a set of male twins in Virunga National Park.
“It’s always great when endangered species are having babies,” says Tara Stoinski, president, CEO, and chief scientific officer for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. “And then twins is exciting, because it’s incredibly rare.”
In neighboring Rwanda, Stoinski says the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s data show that gorillas have twins in less than one percent of all recorded births. Humans birth twins at more than three times that rate, for comparison.
“I’ve only heard of it once before,” says Brent Stirton, a wildlife photographer who has created some of the world’s most recognizable images of mountain gorillas for National Geographic.
(See an extraordinary look inside the home of some of the world’s last mountain gorillas.)
Stirton is surprised to hear of another set of mountain gorilla twins, saying "It's kind of miraculous." He sees it as a sign of hope for the slowly rebounding mountain gorilla population. “When I first started working in Virunga in 2007, there were just 276 mountain gorillas left in the world.”
War, poaching, disease, and habitat loss all threaten the mountain gorilla, which is one of two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. In fact, Mafuko’s mother was killed by “armed individuals”, according to a statement published on Virunga National Park’s website.
And yet, thanks to the hard work and personal sacrifice of rangers and conservation agencies, as well as the resilience of the gorillas themselves, the animals soldier on.
“These gorillas have adapted, and they continue to thrive,” says Stirton. “They fly in the face of all conventional wisdom.”
Why are gorilla twins such a big deal?
To understand why experts are so excited about the news of twin gorillas, you must first understand just how slowly these animals reproduce, says Stoinski.
“Females won’t have their first baby until about 10 years of age,” she says. “And females generally give birth about every four years.”
This slow reproduction rate limits how quickly the population can respond to threats. And just like with humans, baby gorillas require tons of parental care.
“One of the things people love about gorillas is how much like us they are, and how they can see ourselves reflected in them,” says Stoinski. “Female gorillas are amazing moms, and the infants are totally dependent on them.”
While gorillas can stand and walk on two legs, they prefer to move on all fours. And when a female has a baby, this means one of her arms is devoted to carrying the little one. Holding two infants becomes doubly difficult.
Females that give birth to twins must also produce twice the amount of milk, says Stoinksi. All of this contributes to a lower survival rate in twins, she says.
'The cutest animal you’ve ever seen'
At around four pounds at birth and covered in thick, black hair, Stirton says baby mountain gorillas are “definitely up there with the cutest animal you’ve ever seen.”
But it’s the babies’ relationship with the biggest gorillas that fascinates him.
“One thing that’s interesting is that silverbacks who play with the kids and who are gentle with them get much more breeding time with the females,” he says. “The ladies are pretty smart about that. They’re like, ‘Hang on a minute. This guy’s a good dad. I want to be with him.’”
And the big males who are grumpy and fierce?
“They don’t any action,” says Stirton, who will be returning to Virunga in three weeks on assignment with National Geographic.
(Track mountain gorillas in Uganda with the people who protect them)
As for what will happen to the twins, it’s anyone’s guess. Around 33 percent of Rwanda's infant mountain gorillas die before reaching adulthood, says Stoinski. But overall, mountain gorillas are doing better than experts would have expected just a few years ago.
“This is a subspecies that Diane Fossey thought would be extinct before the year 2000. And right now, they’re the only great ape on the planet, besides humans, that is increasing in number,” she says.
“I wish Mafuko all the luck in taking care of these twins,” says Stoinski. “We will all be rooting for her.”
