In Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, gorillas live reclusively after they poached to near extinction. Isaro is one of the remaining 880 mountain gorillas left in the world, and this is what makes her story so remarkable.
Isaro is a proud mum of baby gorillas in various ages. When the 16-year-old mountain gorilla mum disappeared deep into the forest, the trackers from Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International were very concerned.
When this group, that is dedicated to monitoring the mountain gorillas, finally spotted Isaro, they saw a very rare sight. Isaro was nursing twins!
According to researchers, mountain gorillas are very shy and do not give researchers the chance to find out and explore much about their lives. However, Isaro could not hide her precious twins from the world anymore.
Scroll down to watch the marvellous photos below, and tell us what you think about this rare sight in a comment!
If you look closely, you will find that this gorilla mum is not carrying only one baby; there are two little babies in her arms!
Isaro lives with 480 other reclusive gorillas in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. This gorilla is 16-years-old, and she is already a mother of a small group of babies who vary in age.
While 480 gorillas may seem like a large number, there are only 880 mountain gorillas left in our world! Although this rare species has been poached to extinction, dedicated researchers hope they will increase in number, if they remain under care, certainly.
While Isaro has two other babies of her own that are three and six years old. Mountain gorillas sometimes lose their babies before the age of 1, this is the reason why mountain gorillas become extremely protective of their newborn babies. Luckily, Isaro is experienced in child rearing.
When mountain gorilla babies are still young, their mothers do not accept help from any other gorilla in the group. However, Isaro allows Icyororo, her big brother, to have a closer look at his younger nieces and nephews.
According to these quick glimpses into the life of Isaro's family, researchers can tell that she is doing a great job with her new baby twins. The two babies are comparable in size, which means that she is nurturing both of them equally.
Both Isaro's babies have begun to develop the distinguishing coats of mountain gorillas, and dense crowns of curly hair started to fill the tops of their heads.
According to the research team, among the entire mountain gorilla population, Isaro's twins and only two other sets of twins were able to survive. This shows the importance of Isaro's situation and that it is unique and fascinating.
Veronica Vecellio, the manager of the program at the Fossey Fund, said that “The birth of the twins is a gift in many ways. First for the pure beauty of nature, but also to remind us how vulnerable and precious gorillas are.”
Isaro had a prior success at raising her young; and it is obvious that she had the experience she needs to give her newborn twins a solid chance of survival. The kind mom looks fiercely dedicated to her little babies.
You can check out Dian Fossey Gorilla Found International’s Facebook page for more details about their impressive research.
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