A pair of twin mountain gorillas has been born in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - a rare occurrence for the endangered primates, conservationists at Virunga National Park say.
The community trackers, who discovered 22-year-old Mafuko hugging her newborns on Saturday, reported that the mother and her two baby sons appeared to be healthy. Twin births are thought to account for about 1% of all mountain gorilla births, although precise data is scarce.
Virunga, situated in a conflict-prone part of DR Congo, is Africa's oldest and largest national park, established to protect mountain gorillas, of which there are fewer than 1,100 left in the wild.
These remarkable creatures are found only in Virunga and national parks across the border in Rwanda and Uganda, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which documents threatened species.
The last recorded birth of mountain gorilla twins in Virunga National Park occurred in September 2020, while Mafuko herself previously gave birth to twins in 2016, tragically losing them within a week.
Younger gorillas rely entirely on their mothers for support and are particularly vulnerable in an environment marked by poachers and armed groups. To ensure the twins' safety during this critical stage, park authorities have implemented additional monitoring and protection measures.
The pregnancy for a gorilla lasts approximately eight-and-a-half months, with females typically giving birth to one infant every four years. Conservationists highlight that Mafuko has a remarkable history of resilience herself; born in 2003, she lost her mother to armed attackers at the age of four and later joined the Bageni family.
Efforts to protect mountain gorillas at Virunga have seen success, supported by community programs, anti-poaching patrols, and aid from the European Union and Unesco. These initiatives have contributed to a slow increase in mountain gorilla numbers, leading to their conservation status being upgraded from critically endangered to endangered in 2018.
Virunga National Park spans 7,800 sq km (3,000 sq miles) and features a rich diversity of landscape, from active volcanoes and vast lakes to lush rainforests and mountains.
