This blog was written by Jean Bosco Noheli or Noel, MGVP’s Regional Laboratory Technician. Noel, a recent veterinary school graduate, recently began joining the Gorilla Doctors on their regular health monitoring visits in Volcanoes National Park.

This is my 11^th visit to the gorillas for routine health checks and today I visited Sabyinyo, which has few individuals and is lead by the silverback Guhonda. In this experience with gorillas, I saw the youngest baby in the group, Umulinzi’s infant who was born 10 days ago.  The way I found Umulinzi protecting her infant significantly relates to her name. Umulinzi is the Kinyarwanda word which means a protector! When the mother recognized our presence in the group, she made a short vocalization and straight away took the baby to her chest with two arms.  Soon she was comfortable with our presence, and she and the baby settled down to sleep.

Umulinzi protecting her infant.

A Gorilla with a PhD

In this group I also found a gorilla with poor hair distribution on the head (he must be a PhD!). It is really amazing to see this guy who is so easy to identify.  We were lucky to find him today because last time I visited this group they were in the bamboo zone, and they climbed quite high into the bamboo making it very difficult to see individuals.

Isheza Keza – the guy with the PhD!

51^st visit to the Gorillas

As we left the gorillas after about one hour observing each individual, we met the tourist group coming to Sabyinyo that day.  There was a man who was coming to visit gorillas for his 51^st time as tourist!  We also met Steve Taylor, the director of the Cleveland Zoo, and some of his friends.  All congratulated MGVP for our efforts in caring for the health of these rare animals.

Is it possible for Kids to Scare Buffalos?

In Virunga National Park we find other wild animals such as elephants and buffalos.  The park is surrounded by plantations of potatoes. Today when got out of the forest, just beyond the park border, we saw two little girls sitting in a potato plantation beating jerry-can drums in order to prevent the buffalos from grazing in their field.  We found it interesting that this was a job for little girls!

 

I myself congratulate MGVP for performing this hard work and feel happy to be a part of the Gorillas Doctor team. I will say thanks to late Diane Fossey who requested veterinary care for these lovely animals. Also thank you to those of you who read our stories to learn about mountain gorillas and those of you who help save their lives by supporting those who take care of them.

Dr. Noel. Use of masks and keeping a distance are two of the ways to protect gorillas from human disease transmission.

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