Rwanda: Celebrations as Another Pair of Rare Mountain Gorilla Twins is Born

By Staff Writer

KIGALI---The Gorilla Organization has announced the unexpected birth of another rare pair of mountain gorilla twins in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.  The twins, who were born on 27 May 2011, are only the sixth set of twins ever recorded in the history of Rwanda’s critically-endangered mountain gorillas.

The babies have been born to the Suba Group and so the news is particularly welcome given the bad luck these gorillas have endured over recent years, with several members having either been killed by poachers or died in infancy.

Their arrival comes soon after the Gorilla Organization announced the birth of a pair of twins to the Hirwa Group - also in the protected Volcanoes National Park - and just as Rwanda is gearing up to celebrate the annual world-famous Kwitza Izina gorilla naming festival at the end of this month.

"We're equally astonished and delighted with this wonderful news from Rwanda," says Jillian Miller, executive director of the Gorilla Organization.

"Since there are fewer than 800 mountain gorillas alive in the world today, just one new baby is good news. But to have two sets of twins born within a matter of weeks of each other really is cause for celebration."

Since gorilla mothers like to keep their babies close to their chests for the first few weeks after birth, the sex of the twins is not yet known. However, Emmanuel Bugingo, the Gorilla Organization’s Programme Manager in Rwanda, has confirmed that mother and babies appear to be in good health and he has managed to take the first pictures of the brood.

Meanwhile, the Gorilla Organization is getting ready for the 2011 Great Gorilla Run. As with previous years, this iconic event will see hundreds of runners don full gorilla suits and tackle a 7km course past several London landmarks in the name of gorilla conservation.