The Death of a Patriarch
The famous silverback Mushamuka disappeared on 18 April 1997. He was
the leader of one of the first two Grauer's gorilla groups in Kahuzi-Biega
National Park who were habituated to humans. The habituation was done
by the late Adrien Deschrijver between 1965 and 1971. Mushamuka has been
known since 1971. Deschrijver estimated him to be 20 years old at that
time.
When Kelly Stewart met the silverback in 1972, she decided to become a
gorilla researcher and later worked at Karisoke in Rwanda. Tourists also
remembered him because he used to bluff charge during the visits. He also
was shown in the movie Gorillas in the Mist.
The first zoologist to study Mushamuka's group was Alan Goodall in 1972.
The group had 20 members at that time. It continued to grow during the
following years; when Juichi Yamagiwa observed it in 1978; at that time,
Mushamuka was the leader of an extremely large group with 42 individuals.
This is the largest gorilla group ever reported. In 1990, the group consisted
of 21 members, in 1993 of 19 members.
Mushamuka was an extremely successful silverback. Many of his sons left
his group and established their own - recently, Bwana in 1992 and Lambchop
and Mintsauce in 1995. Nindja, an older son, can also be visited by tourists.
The last offspring Mushamuka sired was born in 1994 but it died when it
was only 1.5 months old. The group is now led by a young male, probably
a son too, and seems o.k. It can be visited by the rangers.
Mushamuka was the second famous Kahuzi-Biega silverback to die within
only a few years (in 1993, Maheshe had been
killed by poachers; he was possibly also a son of Mushamuka). However,
unlike Maheshe, Mushamuka was not killed by poachers. He was estimated
to be 43-46 years old and had lost many teeth. His remains have not yet
been found.
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.
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