Intervening After Gorilla Love Gets Messy
This month, Dr. Magda traveled to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda to perform an intervention in Nkuringo group following a report from rangers that the adult female Msamehe had suffered a serious head wound after a mating.
Dr. Magda reports: "Msamehe is an adult female who started cycling and mating again when her infant reached 3.5 years. For 4 days all 6 males in the group surrounded her and tried to mate with her, and surprisingly attacked her multiple times. Fights within the group became very fierce and all the males and some of the other females and infants were showing signs of various bites and scratches all over their backs, arms, hands and faces. Msamehe had multiple injuries, of which the most serious on the left hand, but none were life threatening. However, on February 14 she was found with a terrible injury. There was exposed bone on the left side of her skull and a loose flap of skin falling down to the eyebrows." Read More
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Making a Mountain Gorilla Orphan Family
In mid-February, Dr. Jan traveled to the Senkwekwe sanctuary at Virunga National Park to help the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) with the introduction of the mountain gorilla orphans Ndeze and Ndakasi to Maisha and Kaboko. After a few months of being able to view each other from their separate forest enclosures, the four mountain gorillas are being brought together though a gradual process that's being closely monitored by Dr. Jan, Debby Cox - a primate expert form the Jane Goodall Institute - and ICCN and MGVP caretakers. Read more in Dr. Jan's blog.
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MGVP Welcomes Two New Gorilla Doctors
Thanks to the USAID PREDICT grant awarded to the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, MGVP has been able to hire 2 new African veterinarians, Dr. Rachael Mbabazi and Dr. Olivier Nsengimana. Both will be serving as field assistants for the PREDICT program, with Dr. Rachael working under Dr. Benard Ssebide in Uganda and Dr. Olivier working under Dr. Julius Nziza in Rwanda. The goal of PREDICT is to identify the emergence of new infectious diseases in wildlife that could pose a major threat to human health.
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Rare Gorilla Twins Born in Hirwa Group
On February 3, mountain gorilla Kabatwa of Hirwa group in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park gave birth to healthy twin boys. Twins are extremely rare in mountain gorillas. In 2008, twins were born in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, but one twin died 18 months later. Six-year-old twins Byishimo and Impano of Susa group in Volcanoes National Park are the only known set of mountain gorilla twins to have survived beyond their infant years.
Dr. Jan was performing a routine health on Hirwa Group the day the twins were born, although she did not see Kabatwa as she was away from the group giving birth. Dr. Jan returned the following morning to check on the new mother and her twins. See photos and a video of the twins on the Gorilla Doctors Blog.
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