Male mountain gorillas do care for infants too

Male mountain gorillas are more known for their leadership role in their respective groups or families. Each mountain gorilla group is led by a silverback, a strong and giant male gorilla in charge of making leadership decisions for the entire family.

However, according to the study from the researchers of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda, male mountain gorillas were found to have a greater success in siring more infants.

Before this finding, there was a belief that male mountain gorillas and other male primates in general only cared for getting a dominant position in their respective groups.

The parental role of male mountain gorillas comes in addition to their traditional task of competing with one another to win accessibility to females and gain mating opportunities.

According to the study, it was believed that female mountain gorillas preferably mate with males who have compassion for kids. The researchers are now undertaking another additional study to find out whether hormones, such as testosterone have a role in influencing these behaviors in the apes as they do in humans.

Many critical species benefit from gorilla protection

Several stakeholders including government agencies and non-government organizations like the Fossey Fund have stepped up to protect mountain gorillas for both economic and conservation reasons

In mountain gorilla habitats like Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda in particular, the government through the Rwanda Development Board has employed several protection mechanisms including the deployment of park rangers to ensure that both mountain gorillas and their habitat are safe.

The Fossey Fund volunteers have employed several ways of protecting these apes for example, the researchers who carry out several studies about the daily life and the behavior of mountain gorillas in a bid to establish better protective measures for the apes.

It has now become clear that all these conservation efforts do not only protect mountain gorillas but also a range of other wildlife species who live in the same habitats with theses apes.

The researchers of the Fossey Fund in Rwanda established that they discovered a list of at least 15 other species that benefit directly from the protection of mountain gorillas.

The list includes a wide variety of plant and animals including some iconic species like elephants, chimpanzees, and leopards and several monkey types.

Other endangered and threatened species in this category include two types of pangolins, Grauer’s swamp warblers, African golden cats, hooded vultures, frogs, among others.