During their long childhood, gorillas learn which parts of which plants are edible, where to find them and how to prepare them (botany, geography and culinary skills). Here, Pato, a silverback mountain gorilla, delicately strips the peel and soil from thistle roots with his teeth, spits out the peel and dirt, then crunches up the nutritious root while selecting the next morsel.

Pato is the grown-up son of Titus, one of the best known and most filmed of the gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes conservation area, shared by Rwanda, DRCongo and Uganda. I first met Titus as an infant in 1976, and watched him growing up in a stable family, known as Group 4, until poachers killed his father, Uncle Bert, in 1978. Titus survived the attack, grew up in a bachelor group and ultimately thrived. As a silverback, he built up one of the biggest groups on record and died of natural causes at the age of 35. It was a pleasure to see his adult son Pato doing well with a family of his own - and when he turned round to face me, I had only one thought, "My, you do look like your Dad... and your grandfather too! It turns out noses run in the family for gorillas as well as humans!"

Although tourist visits to all apes are currently suspended as a precaution against the Covid-19 pandemic, you can visit this gorilla family virtually via www.vEcotourism.org and in the free app vEco Tours - look for the World Gorilla Day Safari.

You can also support DFGFI, The Gorilla Organization, Gorilla Doctors and maybe make plans for when gorilla tourism is reopened in Volcanoes National Park by keeping an eye on Rwanda Development Board (RDB).