Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo recorded the birth of a second set of mountain gorilla twins this year. According to park authorities, the twins were born into the Baraka family and are believed to be a male and a female, now about 2 weeks old. Their arrival follows a twin birth in January in the Bageni family. Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei), a subspecies of the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei), live in close-knit groups or families led by a dominant silverback male and several females with their offspring. The Virunga mountains host one of two known populations of the endangered ape. Only around 1,050 remain in the wild today. The birth brings the Baraka family to 19 individuals and marks the seventh gorilla birth recorded in Virunga this year. “Two instances of twin births within three months is an extraordinary event and provides another vital indicator that dedicated conservation efforts which have continued despite the current instability in eastern Congo are supporting the growth of the endangered mountain gorilla population,” Jacques Katutu, Virunga’s head of gorilla monitoring, said in a press release. Twin births among mountain gorillas are rare, typically occurring in less than 1% of births, according to park authorities. The first twins of the year, born in January to adult female Mafuko in the Bageni family, are now about 11 weeks old and reported to be thriving. Field teams have also observed strong social support within the group, including a young blackback (a sexually…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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