KABIRIZI

KABIRIZI

Gorilla Family

KABIRIZI

24 MEMBERS: LAST UPDATED 22/02/2022

Kabirizi group is found in Bukima area of Virunga National Park in DRC and is led by the dominant Silverback Kabirizi. Around 1994, Zunguruka group led by the Silverback Zunguruka was habituated in Bukima area. Zunguruka later died of old age and left his son Ndungutse to lead the group, until 1997 when he (Ndugutse) was killed by bullets in a crossfire between DR Congo army and Rwandan rebels near the Bukima patrol post. After Ndungutse’s death, his son Buhanga took over the leadership of the group with 13 individuals. Unfortunately, Buhanga faced resistance from his brother Karateka. Later, the two brothers Buhanga and Karateka fought, forcing Karateka to leave the group with 3 individuals. On January 10th , 1998, Buhanga interacted with Karateka and grabbed back 3 individuals leaving Karateka a lone Silverback. On 06/02/1998, Buhanga had a violent interaction with Kabirizi (then alone Silverback too) that left him with serious wounds, which later claimed his life. Surprisingly Buhanga in his wounded condition was still able to protect and keep all his group members together. After his death, an adult female called Nsekuye took over the leadership of this wandering group. Her leadership did not last long since on 23/02/1998, she was overthrown by a lone Silverback called Munyaga. On the other hand, Kabirizi grabbed a few individuals from Luwawa group when its dominant Silverback Luwawa was killed in 1995. Later, Kabirizi interacted with Munyaga several times until he grabbed all his females to form a big group. On January 27th, 2013, Kabirizi group split into two. Kabirizi remained with 16 individuals while his son Bageni took away 20 individuals. Today Kabirizi group is composed of 24 individuals including 6 Silverbacks, 1 Black-back, 7     Adult females, 2 Sub- adults, 2 Juveniles and 6 Infants.

  • 6

    Silverbacks

  • 7

    Adult females

  • 1

    Blackbacks

  • 2

    Sub-adult females

  • 2

    Juveniles

  • 6

    Infants

About mountain gorillas

The eastern gorilla is a large hominid with a large head, broad chest, and long arms. It has a flat nose with large nostrils. The face, hands, feet and breast are bald. The fur is mainly black, but adult males have a silvery “saddle” on their back. When the gorilla gets older, the hair on the saddle of the back becomes white, much like the gray hair of elderly people. This is why the older males are called silverbacks. Grauer’s gorilla has a shorter, thicker, deep black fur, while the mountain gorilla has a more bluish color. The mountain gorilla is slightly smaller and lighter than Grauer’s gorilla, but still larger and heavier than the western lowland gorilla and the Cross River gorilla. Males are much larger than females. A full-grown male eastern gorilla typically weighs 140–205.5 kg (309–453 lb) and stands 1.7 m (5.6 ft) upright.

The goal of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) is to ensure the conservation of mountain gorillas and their regional afromontane forest habitat in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Virunga National Park

Virunga National Park

Located in the Albertine Rift Valley in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Virunga National Park is Africa’s most biodiverse protected area that protects 1/3 of the wild mountain gorillas, over one thousand species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.