Gorillas are highly social animals, relatively non-territorial and live in groups called troops. However, the groups tracked by tourists on their Uganda Rwanda gorilla safaris are referred to as gorilla families instead of troops.
Troops tend to be made of one adult male also known as a silver back, a few Alpha males, multiple adult females and their off springs.
A silver back is typically more than 12 years of age. It is named because of the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back, which comes with maturity.
The silver back gorilla is usually the leader of the troop and has exclusive breeding rights with the females in the group. Troop populations range from 2-12 individuals and 9 individuals on average.
The silver back is naturally the most aggressive member of the troop because he is the one who must provide protection and security.
He also makes all of the group decisions, settles disputes between members, and gets the majority of the group’s food.
Most adolescent females transfer to a different troop once they reach about eight years of age. Usually, the first troop in which the female produces offspring becomes her permanent troop.
A female gorilla’s status is regularly determined by her earliness into the troop. The female latecomers do not always get as many benefits as those that first joined the group, which include protection of their offspring by the dominant silver back.
For this reason, females do not normally have strong relationships with each other because they are constantly fighting to be closest to the silver back in order to receive the most attention and protection. During a Rwanda gorilla trekking safari, tourists usually witness this kind behavior during the time they are with the gorillas.
Although gorillas typically aren’t aggressive, they do exhibit territorial behavior by standing upright on their bottom two legs and pounding their chests in order to intimidate whatever threat they have been given.
Because of the gorillas sharp canines and great strength, gorilla males are very dangerous opponents when they are in a fighting mood.
These instances can come about when two silver backs of different troops meet, when two males are fighting over a female that they want to mate with, or when a younger male is challenging the silver back for dominance of the troop. However, in stable troops these acts of violence and aggression are very rare.
Severe aggression is rare in stable gorilla groups, but when two groups meet, the leading silver backs can sometimes engage in a fight to the death, mainly using their sharp canines to cause deep, gaping injuries.
At sunset, gorillas settle down for the night in nests made out of vegetation collect or in the enviromnent. These nests are usually made by bending soft trees, breaking bamboo sticks, and taking large leaves from other types of trees to be used as a blanket to shield from the cold.
Mothers like to find a comfortable spot in the nest where their backs can be supported so that they can breast feed and cuddle their babies throughout the night.
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