How Mountain Gorillas Behave when Angry

How Mountain Gorillas Behave when Angry  

Mountain gorillas are renowned for there serenity despite there huge dark furred bodies that look scary at first sight. However this doesn’t guarantee that when the wrong buttons of these apes are pressed they will stay calm. Like humans, they get agitated to the extent of yielding a fight. Gorillas are known for being gentle, shy and very friendly to each other but if disturbed, they become wild and rough with what ever is closer to their environment. During there free time and family moments, they rarely cause rage. They exist in families of about 11 to 30 members under the leadership of the dominant male called the silverback. It has grey hair in the back that develops as it matures. The females also have a dominant female who is responsible for disciplining the juveniles and the infants.

When these gentle apes loos there cool, they get aggressive and destructive. They take 9 steps to show there anger. These are the nine steps. First of all, they do progressive and quickening hooting, followed by symbolic feeding, afterwards rising bipedally, then throw up vegetation, followed by chest-beating with cupped hands, then one leg kick, afterwards move on sideways running, two-legged to four-legged,  after wards slapping and tearing vegetation and finally thumping the ground with palms to end display.

The fighting males usually use there canines to cause wounds on the bodies of there opponents.  At times these fights end into death of one or more of the parties. The attacked group usually migrates to e new location away from there usual area

The dominant male is responsible for protecting his family against external intruders. He fights aggressively to redeem his Gorilla group or family. He looks for new feeding grounds for the family. Mountain Gorillas normally feed on shoots, leaves, fruits, invertebrates like ants and bamboo. Mountain Gorillas feed from 6am to 6pm in the evening on only foliage that sustains there bulky bodies. Just like humans, the juvenile male also start to seek independence at this stage. Some also get into serious fights with the dominant male as dominance and protecting the family become the main issues

However on a normal day, Mountain Gorillas take the afternoon hours for resting and grooming the young ones. What is surprising is that mother Mountain gorillas normally comb the fur of there young ones to keep dust away from them. Those who go for gorilla tracking may have the chance of seeing this if they take long hours in the forest. Try a Uganda holiday or Rwanda Safari to visit the mountain gorillas.

What to do when gorillas go aggressive.

• Crouch down slowly so that you do not stand straight to match there height.
• Do not look into the eyes of the gorilla because they think you are ready to fight them. It is also a sign of being submissive.
• Stay calm and wait for the animals to pass so that you avoid colliding with them.
• Do not try to run away because you might hurt yourself as the animals will also thing you are up to hiding in the bush to stage a reaction later.
• Do not touch any gorilla because they may think you are about to grab one of them.
• Sit down in case you notice an unusual behaviour so as to make the gorilla understand that you have visited them for good intensions.
• On the way, you need to be calm or if you cannot keep quite, talk at a very low tone because the gorillas are very keen with strangers.