Maheshe's Tragic End
Many former visitors of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park will remember
the silverback Maheshe. His group was one of the two gorilla families
first habituated to people. Until his death, this family was visited by
tourists, observed by many scientists and filmed by Alan Root for the
film Gorillas in the Mist.
In 1971, Michael Casimir observed a group of gorillas in the Kahuzi-Biega
consisting of 20 animals. In 1972, this number had decreased to 18. In
1975, the group's leader Kaboko was supplanted by a solitary silverback
of about 15 years of age: Maheshe. He was possibly the son of Mushamuka,
the leader of another habituated family.
After this change in leadership, emigration caused the number of animals
in the group to decrease further, from 19 to 12. From 1978 to 1980, the
group comprised 9 animals, and its size further decreased to only 6 individuals
in 1982. In 1984/1985 the number of animals increased again to 16. The
group had 28 animals in 1987, 25 in 1988, 22 in 1989, and 24 in 1990,
and 16 shortly before Maheshe died.
In November 1993, Maheshe suddenly disappeared without trace. Finally,
in August 1995, his corpse was located and unearthed after a tip-off from
the local population. The head and hands were missing, indicating that
Maheshe had been killed for the trophies.
Since then the poachers have been caught and confessed to the killing.
They acted on the orders of a local ruler, who sold the trophies for a
considerable profit. However, the exact connections still have to be investigated.
Angela Meder
Dr. Angela Meder observed the behaviour and development of captive lowland gorillas for 10 years. A major aim of her various studies was the improvement of the management, rearing and housing of gorillas in zoos. Today she works as a book editor. Since 1992 she has been part of the Board of Directors of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe.
