By Rogers Wanambwa 

KIU, Main Campus – Uganda has registered an unprecedented seventh Gorilla birth after another baby was born in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has announced.

According to a statement on the UWA website, this is the fifth gorilla birth at Bwindi and it comes from the Rushegura gorilla family born from adult female Ruterana (in the picture), increasing the family membership to 18 gorillas. 

“The staff of Uganda Wildlife Authority- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park - have risen to yet another ecstatic moment of a new baby gorilla in Buhoma,” the statement reads.

“This takes the tally of new births in the Bwindi forest to 5 in just six weeks! The newborn marks Ruterana's third offspring,” it adds 

The statement also reveals that the Rushegura family this year has been blessed with multiple births, with Kibande, the most senior lady and kingmaker of the family of the Rushengura gorilla family welcoming her second birth on August 27, 2020.

In April 2020, Rushaga sector registered the birth of two babies in Muyambi and Nshongi gorilla groups.

The newest baby is 18-year old Ruterana’s third, but sadly her first infant died at just two weeks old from pneumonia in 2012 when Ruterana was just 12 years old.

The status of mountain gorillas in Uganda was changed from critically endangered to endangered in 2018 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, thanks to an increase in their numbers.