Gorilla #politics can be fascinating to watch, especially in groups with more than one silverback. The fact that more than one adult male gorilla can get on together came as a surprise to scientists who had surmised from early studies that a 'normal' gorilla group is one #silverback and as many females as he can attract and keep (2-5 or even more) and their young. Here we see the end of a siesta in the #SusaGroup - which has three silverbacks - in a sunny glade on the southern flank of Mount #Karisimbi in the Volcanoes National Park​, #Rwanda. The silverback in the opening shot is Igisha, No.2 in the hierarchy, and he moves out of the way when Kurira, the dominant male, signals the end of the rest period by knuckle-walking through the group in the direction of travel he has decided to take (the third silverback, Kiki, was sitting on his own about 25 paces behind us).
After resting a while digesting breakfast, adult gorillas start to think about food again, but won't go far until the boss says so. When he does, the whole group will begin travel-feeding for the afternoon meal, but often the kids carry on playing - as we see in this video, my 80th daily attempt to #BrightenYourDay in #Covid19 #lockdown. All ape tourism has been suspended during the pandemic, so this is a good time to relive previous safaris and this one was one of the best, with lots of action and #gorillas out in the open for much of the allotted hour, giving the humans time to take a photo for the family album. You can enjoy more of this memorable day, virtually, via
https://www.vEcotourism.org​/panos/prototours/susagroup/ - use your keyboard arrows to look around, and click on the hotspots (green rings) to watch more videos of gorilla behaviour.
More info at https://www.visitrwanda.com/interests/gorilla-tracking/