A baby mountain gorilla is called an infant, born weighing about 4 and a half pounds. They are born vulnerable, similar to human babies, but they develop more quickly and start walking at the age of six months.
Infants breastfeed up to the age of 2.5 years and sleep in the same nests until they are 4-6 years old.
At around the age of about 4-6 years, infants cling to their mothers’ backs. The mothers are responsible for grooming, and infants in the group often play games with each other, such as wrestling and somersaults.
Baby mountain gorillas learn how to sit up straight at 3 months.
Infant gorillas develop into juveniles before they can become fully adults, at around the age of 10 years.
The females become sexually mature at around 8 years, before the adult males. Male adults develop a grey patch of hair on their back, becoming Silverbacks.
Female mountain gorillas have a low birth rate and produce offspring every 4-6 years when the infants can start to do things on their own.
They also have only 1-2 fertile days in a month, and it’s the females who seek out males for mating.
Mountain gorilla groups are led by a dominating Silverback that is responsible for all group activities, such as feeding, resting times, when to move, and where to sleep.
The Silverbacks also defend their groups, just like females can defend the young ones, even at the cost of their own lives.
A baby mountain gorilla is born with brownish hair covering its body except its face, palms, fingers, armpits, and the soles of their feet.
They start feeding lightly at about 3 years while still on breast milk.
Female gorillas have a gestation period of about 8-9 months. When male gorillas grow to the age of about 20 years and above, they usually challenge the dominating Silverback or leave the group with some members to form their own group, which often involves a fight, or they move as lone Silverbacks.
On a lucky day, you will meet a baby gorilla when gorilla trekking in Uganda, Rwanda & Congo.
