Gorilla mating is a social animal’s behaviour and lives in groups of up to 30. This includes one older, dominant male, known as a silverback, several females and they are young, and two to three younger, non-dominant males. There are normally few conflicts within the group, though confrontations with other groups or lone males can be extremely violent when coming to the time of mating.
The gorilla mating process depends on factors including social structure, gorilla breeding rituals, general gorilla life cycle, and more.
In gorilla breeding rituals, the silverback (the dominant male gorilla) breeds with all of the females in his group, though it is the female that initiates the gorilla mating process when she is fertile. However, a 1982 study found that aggression from the silverback towards a female-led to that female initiating the mating process even when she was not in estrus.
Gorilla breeding can happen at any time of the year. Both Eastern and Western gorillas have been observed mating face to face in the wild, a behaviour once thought unique to humans.
Females give birth about every 4 years. While female gorillas may give birth to eight or more babies, often only a couple will survive to adulthood.
Gorillas have an eight-and-a-half-month gestation period, and infants nurse until they are between three to four years of age. The mothers carry their infants everywhere, and, in rare cases of multiple births, they often allow the weaker infant to die.
Gorillas have a high infant mortality rate; only about half of them will survive to adulthood.
This is in part because of the fact that they are so dependent on their mothers for so long, but also because of changes in social order within the group. If a new silverback takes over the group, he will usually kill all of the infants that are still nursing in an effort to bring the females back into estrus. Book with Beyond Travel Africa for a lifetime African Safari experience.