BBC Mountain Gorilla Page #3

---

But Rukina's group contains plenty

of females for him to choose from,

and he doesn't appear

especially interested.

Finally, Rukina relents.

Yep, yep, yep, there you go.

Twijiki's entered a period called oestrus,

a monthly occurrence for gorillas,

and the only time they can get pregnant.

And usually they'll mate

about once an hour.

There we go.

For the next few days,

Twijiki's sole aim will be to mate.

They are very active

in soliciting the males.

So, yeah, it is almost like they're...

It's a different gorilla

from one day to the next,

depending on

if they're in oestrus or not.

Possessed by her hormones,

she turns once more to the silverback,

but he's not interested.

Twijiki will have to look elsewhere.

She decides to try her luck

with the more junior gorillas,

the blackbacks.

Twijiki might not know any better,

but the blackback is only too aware

that if he gets caught,

there'll be trouble.

The dominant silverback holds priority,

and won't put up with

this sort of behaviour.

Despite Rukina's efforts to break up

the young couple's embrace,

sneaky mating does happen.

Genetic tests have revealed

that about 15% of infants are not

fathered by the dominant silverback.

It was a mating like this, between

Ponoka's mother and a blackback,

that Martha saw

before the young Ponoka was born.

Discovering who fathered little Ponoka

is important

if Martha is to understand

the secret world of gorillas.

The only way she can solve this mystery

is with a paternity test.

Oh, yeah, ha-ha!

That would be Ponoka.

Yeah. So, the size of the dung

corresponds to the size of the gorilla.

So we've been looking for some time now

to get the faeces from Ponoka

- and today we succeeded.

- Yeah.

Tiny, tiny, tiny.

Martha will send this sample

to a laboratory,

where Ponoka's genetic profile

will be compared

to that of the silverback, Rukina.

- Do you have the pen?

- Yeah.

OK, great.

In Congo, Magda is getting ready to meet

the two orphaned mountain gorillas,

and check that they are healthy enough

to be moved to their new home.

Ndeze and Ndakazi's stories

began in 2007...

...when six mountain gorillas were killed

in execution-style attacks,

most likely linked

to the illegal charcoal trade.

Two-month-old Ndakazi was found

clinging to the dead body of his mother,

who had been shot

through the back of the head.

Around the same time,

three-month-old Ndeze was discovered

next to his dead mother.

Altogether, five gorillas from his family

had been killed,

including the once mighty silverback

Senkwekwe,

whose body was ceremoniously

carried off the mountain.

These atrocities shocked the world,

but the real struggle was

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes