Mountain gorillas are among the rarest primates in the world: they are one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla and live between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for a total of just over 1,000 specimens left.
This is why the news coming from the Virunga National Park is particularly important: 2026 has opened, for the gorilla population living in the Congo park, with a very rare event – the birth of a pair of twins.
Virunga gorillas. There are two different populations of mountain gorillas: one, the one we are writing about, is in the Virunga, a mountain range of volcanic origin on the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the other still lives in Uganda, but in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (and is considered by some primatologists to be another separate subspecies, but not yet described). The bulk of the Virunga population is in the National Park of the same name, a gigantic (7,800 km2 of surface) collage of different landscapes and ecosystems which is considered one of the main biodiversity hotspots in Africa.
Big families. Among the 218 species of mammals (which join the 706 species of birds, 109 of reptiles and 78 of amphibians) that live in the park there are three that belong to primates, and the mountain gorilla is one of these. Its population in the park is divided into large families, the most important of which is the Bageni family: Mafuko, the female who gave birth to the twins, belongs to this group, made up of a total (updated to date) of 59 specimens.
Very rare twins. Mountain gorilla twins are a rarity among primates: we humans, for example, witness twin births in only 3% of cases worldwide, and the percentage is even lower when it comes to gorillas. It must also be said that Mafuko, the lucky mother, is aregular of multiple births: already in 2016 she gave birth to twins, who unfortunately died within a week.
The newborns, however, seem to be doing very well, at least for the moment: excellent news for the Virunga mountain gorillas, and another demonstration that the park – which already in 2025 has reintroduced four specimens into the wild that had been captured by poachers – is essential to protect this very rare primate… and perhaps even to make it thrive again.
