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.
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All,
Since PBs ran the account of my visit to the Mountain Gorillas in Central Africa, called “Rugabo of Sabinyo” I have conducted a little research into what happened to Rugabo’s family following his slaughter.
Because my postscript about his untimely demise provoked an amount of animated response from people on this forum, I thought you may be interested in reading the results of my research.
Rob, feel free to put this up as a feature if you think its appropriate.
In August 1995, Rugabo made international headline news when his body was discovered, shot dead along with an adult female. The motive appeared to be kidnap as the poachers had made off with a baby gorilla, although it was subsequently retrieved a few days later near the Ugandan border and successfully returned to its family. The perpetrators were rounded up and six men were prosecuted and sentenced to between 15 and 20 years in prison. However, the damage had been done and the following years saw what was left of the Rugabo family slowly decline in numbers.
At the end of November, 1996, the national park infrastructure on the Zairean part of the Virunga Volcanoes was destroyed in the civil war and a number of guards killed. The gorillas were not directly affected, but the dissappearance of tourism will have seriously impacted any anti-poaching measures that were in place.Life after Rugabo
At first, following Rugabo’s murder the family scarpered into the surrounding forest and became unapproachable, but after only a few weeks they allowed park rangers close enough for them to be observed again. An ageing female had initially taken on the dominant role and had led the family to safety before submitting leadership to a Blackback male called Lulengo.
Things went well under Lulengo’s leadership until early 1998 when a lone Silverback by the name of Mapua roamed into the fringes of the family’s home range and attacked Lulengo. The confrontation lasted for 15 days and resulted in Mapua successfully splitting off a young adult female and a juvenile. They were followed a short while later by another female and her baby. In September of the same year, Lulengo’s family were caught in the crossfire of the ongoing military operations that had plagued the region for the previous four years. Two young gorillas were killed, including the baby that had been kidnapped and reintroduced following Rugabo’s death.
By the end of 1998 Lulengo had finally matured into a Silverback but his family numbered only 5 males following the departure of the last female in October. In all of this time, no babies were born.
In February 2002, one of the males, Pilipili had matured into a Silverback and departed the group, taking Karema, an adult Blackback with him. The last report to come from the Virungas, regarding Lulengo’s group says that the two remaining Blackbacks are expected to become solitary, thus rendering what remains of the family dysfunctional. In short, Lulengo has fulfilled his duty to ensure the young would grow up.Group Dynamics
The family history since Rugabo’s death in August 1995 is as follows:– beginning of September 1995: 23 individuals
– end of September 1995: 17 individuals
– June 1996: 13 individuals
– July 1996: 11 individuals
– December 1998: 5 individuals
– December 2001: 3 individuals
– May 2002: 4 individuals. The fourth gorilla was a solitary animal who joined the family but only stayed for a few weeks before moving on, evidently unimpressed by the shortage in numbers and the total absence of females.The eagled eyed among you may have spotted a few inconsistencies between this and my original account. The facts in this post are researched. The original story was the result of some digging around in my wooly memory.
Cheers,
FP.
Rob,
If its all the same with you, I’d rather send you the full re-written piece that has all the latest info appended along with additional photographs.
Seems my memory didn’t serve me as well as it should and the whole saga took place on the volcano Mikeno and not the volcano Sabinyo as I had thought.
So, as long as keywords will lead web users to this story about Rugabo, it would be best if we at least had the correct mountain.Let me know if you want me to send it all over.
Cheers.
Lee.
Would most definitely like to put up the follow up on the front page. Please send it over.
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