Silverback Gorilla protects family

Silverback Gorilla protects family – Gorilla tracking safaris in Uganda and Rwanda

Silverback gorilla protects family? – What is a silverback Gorilla? A silverback Gorilla is an adult male Gorilla that dominates a Gorilla family. They are referred to “silverback” because their back hair is silver in colour. Dominance of a silverback in a group comes after a fight between silverbacks and the winner

Gorillas live in groups of 5-30 members which are also known as Gorilla families. A Gorilla group is headed by a silverback Gorilla and they have a number of responsibilities just like a father as head a family. There may be other silverbacks in the family but not more than three and they all have to submit to the dominant silverback. Dominance in a Gorilla family comes after a fight between silverbacks and winning the fight indicates that the silverback can protect members of the Gorilla family. The winner therefore leads the group and the loser id pushed out. He may snatch some members to go and start his own group or collect the members from other groups. More of the members of the family are females, their infants and juveniles.

When the male Gorillas in the group reach maturity, they are allowed to leave the group and go start their own families which they will lead. Maturity in male Gorillas is at 11 years when their hair on the back starts to turn to silver colour. You can see silverback Gorillas on your Gorilla tracking safari in Uganda, Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo. You will also observe and see how the silverback protects his family and take on other duties.

The main duty of a silverback Gorilla is to protect members of his family. He protects them from lone silverbacks who want to get members from other groups to start their own group. Silverbacks also protect their members from enemies attacking the family. He is always prepared to attack any enemy of such kind.

Other responsibilities of a silverback include:

Searching for food for the family

Building nests where the group will spend the night since they change location and build nests everyday

Mating with the females, the silverback is the only one that satisfies sexual desires of the females and mates with them to produce off-springs of the group

Settling any conflicts in the group and ensuring that there is harmony in the group

Taking care of the young ones, he helps mothers in taking care of the young ones and in case their mother dies, he ensures that they are safe and taken care of.