Sexual Reproduction and Parenting Story of a Gorilla

Gorillas like all mammals have to go through copulation in order to bring forth an offspring but this is not possible until the two partners are of a genuine age.

Females begin to ovulate when they are six (6) years old after which they experience two years of absolute adolescent infertility.

When they make ten (10) years, they are mature and are ready and able to have babies. Their male counterparts take a bit more time to mature (11 – 13 years).

Surprisingly however, male gorillas are sexually fertile even before they reach the age of maturity. When she is ready, a female gorilla will attract one of the males in the family to mate with her and mating in the family does not have a particular season but takes place throughout the year.

When she is pregnant, she has to carry the baby for 8.5 months at the end of which she is rewarded with a bouncing baby gorilla or sometimes twin baby gorillas.The infant gorilla will grow up principally under the care of the mother and it breastfeeds at least once in every hour of the day.

Fathers bond less with the younger gorillas, not until they grow up and are ready to learn how to survive. As the infant grows, it stays in the same nest with its mother and spends more of its time with the mother.

When the infant becomes a juvenile at the age of three (3) years it is stopped from breastfeeding (weaned) and when it makes six (6) years, it is now old enough to leave its mother and can even begin to build and stay in its own nest.