Unprecedented Twin Birth of Endangered Mountain Gorillas in Virunga National Park

Thu Jan 08 2026 22:05:07 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a rare miracle for the endangered species, twin mountain gorillas have been born in Africa's oldest national park, Virunga, amidst ongoing conservation efforts to protect these vulnerable primates.

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo celebrates the birth of twin mountain gorillas, a rarity among the endangered species. The mother, 22-year-old Mafuko, and her two healthy sons will receive close monitoring to ensure their survival against numerous challenges, including poaching. This event marks a significant contribution to the ongoing conservation efforts that have led to a slow increase in the population of these majestic creatures in the wild.

A pair of twin mountain gorillas has been born in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - a rare occurrence for the endangered primates, conservationists at Virunga National Park say.

The community trackers, who discovered 22-year-old Mafuko hugging her newborns on Saturday, said the mother and her two baby sons all appeared to be well and healthy.

Twin births are thought to account for about 1% of all mountain gorilla births, though exact data is not widely available.

Virunga, situated in a conflict-prone part of DR Congo, is Africa's oldest and largest national park and was set up 100 years ago to protect mountain gorillas of which there are fewer than 1,100 left in the wild.

They are only found in the Virunga and in national parks over the border in Rwanda and Uganda, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles a Red List of threatened species.

The last birth of mountain gorilla twins born in Virunga National Park was in September 2020. Mafuko herself gave birth to twins in 2016, but they both died within a week.

Young gorillas rely entirely on their mothers for care and transport - and are extremely vulnerable in what can be a dangerous environment where poachers and many armed groups operate.

Thanks to anti-poaching patrols and community programs - supported by the European Union and Unesco - mountain gorilla numbers in Virunga have slowly increased over the past decade.

This success, which is documented by the IUCN and other partners, led to their status being upgraded from critically endangered to endangered in 2018.

Virunga spans 7,800 sq km (3,000 sq miles) and is home to an astonishingly diverse landscape - from active volcanoes and vast lakes to rainforest and mountains.