Jan 28 2008
The Humba family of Mountain Gorillas
The Humba family of Mountain Gorillas is one we have talked about many times as this is one of our habituated families. Humba and his family were last spotted mid November by the Ranger who was allowed in by the rebels to the Gorilla Sector to see what he could find. Since then we have no news.
Humba is habituated and calm. So for many Rangers he is actually their favorite gorilla to visit with tourists or visitors, as you know Humba is unlikely to charge or do anything too surprising!
Humba
Humba is the brother of Senkwekwe, the Silverback executed in July. Mapuwa and Ruzirabwoba are also his brothers. Humba was born into the Rugendo family and has been a Silverback since 1998, so he is aged roughly between 20 and 22 years.
In 1998 he had an interaction with his father, and the family split. Humba left with 8 individuals - 4 adult females, 1 sub-adult male (Kakendi) and 3 babies. In 1999 a baby was born into the family, called Lubutu, which meant the group size increased to 10.
Lubutu today
Here is what happened next:
2000 - Kakendi became a Blackback and left the family. Today we dont know where he lives - but he could be in one of the non-habituated groups in DR Congo. So the family number fell from 10 to 9.
2001 - The Humba family structure remained unchanged, and life continued peacefully for them.
2002 - 2 births! So 11 individuals. Matembela was born on 12th January to Magori, and Mahindure was born on 18th January to Gato.
Humba
2003 - 1 birth! So 12 individuals in total. Assan was born on 7th March to Bwoba.
2004 - Back to 11 individuals because Assan disappeared in March 2004. This was after an interaction between Humba and an unknown family. We have no idea what happened to Assan.
2005 - This was a busy year, and the family ended up with the 9 individuals that remain today.
9 February: Semakuba was born to Magori.
Magori & Semakuba, taken a few months ago
30 May: Sub-Adult Female Mburanumwe emigrated to the Rugendo family. She was one of the females killed in the July massacre.
16 June: Kanyarwunka was born to Gato.
Gato - she was called this because she is a small female compared to other gorillas. In KinyaBwisha language we usually call someone Gato when they are the smaller one of twins. In this case we named her Gato because she was the smallest female of the family.
Kanyarwunka, a few months ago
9 August: Sub-Adult Male Mukunda emigrated to the Rugendo family. Last time we saw the family in September (following July massacre) he had taken over leadership.
27 August: The adult female Bwoba disappeared; she was never seen again.
Matembela - this is the name of a Ranger who died. It is also the name of a vegetable that is like sweet potato!
10 November: Mayani is born to Mukecuru, but disappears. We do not know how or why, but this gorilla is presumed dead.
12 November: The adult female Mukecuru is found dead, presumably of old age. We thought when she gave birth to Mayani that she would not have the strength to be a mother as she always seemed to have trouble keeping up with the group. As you know Mountain Gorillas can move very fast.
Nyakamwe - this is the name of a Ranger who died in Rwindi (in Virunga National Park).
Mahindure - this means “lava” in KinyaBwisha. He was born right near the lava at Bikenge patrol post.
We are anxious to know how the Humba family is doing today. What births, deaths & interactions there have been. We hope that with the signing of the peace accord last week, we will soon get back into the Gorilla Sector. First we need to get our patrol posts back - they are still occupied by the rebels and the military. But when you have seen as much war as we have, it takes a while for the trust to start to come back. And all of us are still in this phase.
Diddy & Innocent
Technorati : congo, drc, iccn, wildlifedirect
Daily news from the conservation frontline by Innocent and Diddy, and other Congolese rangers risking their lives to save mountain gorillas of the Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Diddy and Innocent, yes, you underscore an important point, the toll this awful war has taken on the people, the land, and the wildlife. War is so pointless and destructive. I’m sorry your beautiful coutry has suffered so very much…as for the Humba Family, we hope they are all safe and thriving. I’m probably the only one who didn’t know gorillas move that fast, poor Mukecuri. It’s tough being a wild animal!!! Thanks for the history lesson on this wonderful family, let’s hope there is some special surprises ahead (babies!).
Diddy and Innocent, Your knowledge of all the Gorilla families is amazing to me. Thank you for telling us about the Humba family. I hope that you are able to get back to your patrol posts very soon. Lisa
I do wish from the bottom of my heart that Humba family is doing well. It’s been far too long not knowing how the gorillas are managing. I’m also anxious to know how the Rugendo family has managed to cope with all the dramatic events, which had such a profound impact on the family..
Thank you Diddy and Innocent for this interesting comments.
Dear Innocent and Diddy,
Thank you for the background info on this gorilla family. I am looking at your posts every day waiting for news you can go back into the gorilla sector to check on them. I went gorilla tracking in Uganda in 2001 and again in Rwanda in 2006: the gorillas are incredible animals and one of the earth’s most valued treasures and deserve international attention and the resources to protect them and their habitat. I am hoping this war really will end soon. But I am also worried about the charcoal mafia and others in the forest who might harm the the animals after the war. I am hoping there can be a long term solution to the fuel problem so the forest is no longer a resource for charcoal production, none of which will happen overnight. I hope to research solutions and make contacts here in the states and pass them along in the future. Thank you for your incredible work there during the worst of times. You are heroes!
Judy in CA
Thank you! Ditto what everyone else said. God bless you.
Judy, your fears are ours, also. There has to be a workable solution. Maybe the folks at M.I.T. should be contacted, just to pick their brains.
I too am checking every day to see what news if any there is about you guys returning to your beautiful gorillas…Humba is gorgeous!!!!!!! As always thank you for your knowledgeable insight to these blessed creatures!
thank you both so much for this. it was really wonderful to read, and i hope you both stay safe and get to see the humba family in the coming weeks.
Samantha and Emmanuel,
The media announced that ceasefire was broken among militias and rebels loyal to General Nkunda. Is the Director of the Virunga National Park trying to negotiate with authorities the turn of the rangers to the Gorilla Sector?
Dear Innocent and Diddy, I am reading your reports every time with interest. I would like to get somenthing concrete done in the future. I really hope that war will end soon!! Thank you so much for your work!
Diddy and Innocent, thanks for the Humba family photos and narrative. I always look at these posts with a mix of sadness and delight - sadness because we have no idea if the Humba family has survived the fighting, the poachers, the charcoal burning … I don’t have high hopes for this peace deal because the men involved are all liars and I think Nkunda is just plain crazy. Still, we haven’t given up on this side of the world and I’m grateful that you haven’t given up, either.
s.
Hi Lucia. At the moment it is all about “wait and see” vis a vis the peace deal and hence getting back into the Gorilla Sector. There is a lot of change on the ground that needs to happen first and things dont happen overnight. We are trying to be patient. So no negotiations are going on right now, as there is still so much uncertainty. Hope that helps.