Mountain Gorilla Social Structure

Mountain Gorilla Social structure, Gorilla Trekking in Virunga National Park Congo. The Mountain Gorilla is highly social, and lives in relatively stable, cohesive groups held together by long-term bonds between adult males and females. Relationships among females are relatively weak.

These groups are non-territorial; the silverback generally defends his group rather than his territory. In the Virunga Mountain Gorillas, the average length of tenure for a dominant silverback is 4.7 years. 61% of groups are composed of one adult male and a number of females and 36% contain more than one adult male.

The remaining gorillas are either lone males or exclusively male groups, usually made up of one mature male and a few younger males. Group sizes vary from five to thirty, with an average of ten individuals.

A typical group contains: one silverback, who is the group’s undisputed leader; one or two black backs, who act as sentries; three to four sexually mature females, who are ordinarily bonded to the dominant silverback for life; and from three to six juveniles and infants.

Most males, and about 60% of females, leave their natal group. Males leave when they are about 11 years old, and often the separation process is slow: they spend more and more time on the edge of the group until they leave altogether. The dominant silverback generally determines the movements of the group, leading it to appropriate feeding sites throughout the year.

He also mediates conflicts within the group and protects it from external threats. He is the center of attention during rest sessions, and young animals frequently stay close to him and include him in their games. If a mother dies or leaves the group, the silverback is usually the one who looks after his abandoned offspring, even allowing them to sleep in his nest.

Experienced silverbacks are capable of removing poachers’ snares from the hands or feet of their group members. When the dominant silverback dies or is killed by disease, accident, or poachers, the family group may be severely disrupted. Unless he leaves behind a male descendant capable of taking over his position, the group will either split up or be taken over in its entirety by an unrelated male.

When a new silverback takes control of a family group, he may kill all of the infants of the dead silverback. This practice of infanticide is an effective reproductive strategy, in that the newly acquired females are then able to conceive the new male’s offspring. Infanticide has not been observed in stable groups.