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New Mother Loses Infant

Source: Uganda Wildlife Authority

Published: January 18, 2013

On January 4th it was discovered that a newborn member of the Kahungye gorilla group had died. The infant's mother is Rugendo, a young aduly female and first-time mother.

Although gorilla doctors were unable to identify the cause of death, they believe he had been born on 28th December. It has been suggested that since Rugendo's mammary glands are not yet fully developed, the inability to nurse the infant may have been the reason. She has since been seen in the group behaving normally.

The gorilla doctors surveyed the other members of the Kahungye group and found no sign of injury or ill-health among other members of the group. Other infants were seen playing with one another and climbing trees as the adults, led by the dominant Silver-Back, Rumanzi, continued to feed, showing that they had not been deeply affected by the loss of the infant.