Mourning Titus, the Gorilla King

Last night I attended a presentation given by Katie Fawcett Director of the Karisoke Research Center, funded by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. http://www.gorillafund.org/

Katie gave a really interesting and engaging overview of Dian's early work identifying and learning from these gorillas, and the organization's 40 years of tracking and researching the gorillas. I have a new understanding of the hard work the Rwandan park rangers and gorilla guides put into protecting the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda.


I learned the sad news that the most famous silverback in Africa known as Titus - has died in Rwanda at the age of 35. He was considered a handsome gorilla and was easliy recognized by the brown marking on his brow. His group of gorillas is currently moourning him and staying near his body on the mountain; cleaning it. They are discussing when to hold a burial and plan to bury him on the mountain near Dian Fossey and other beloved gorillas.

After the presentation we watched a BBC documentary of Titus, "the Gorilla King". He was described as "possibly the most remarkable gorilla ever known", referring to his long life and his rise to dominance in his group. He was one of only about 700 mountain gorillas left in Africa. Mountain gorillas are found only on the slopes of the Virungas on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, none are currently held in zoos. The plight of the mountain gorilla was brought to the attention of the world by Fossey, who lived in the Virunga until her murder in 1985. Titus was born on August 24 1974 and has been observed closely by researchers throughout his entire life, and he died of old age on September 14. The life expectancy of a healthy gorilla is about 40. Looking at the film and written documentation, Titus' story is very heartwarming with him rising to become the dominant male in his group despite losing family members to poachers in the 80s and being born underdeveloped.

Katie indicated that much of the success of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, and the rise in population size of this critically endangered animal is reliant on individual donors and people who become "members" on their website. http://www.gorillafund.org/