What is a silverback?

A silverback is a mature male gorilla who can potentially leads a gorilla family. All male gorillas develop the silver hair usually at the age of 12 to 15 years and that is what gives them the name Silverback. Developing the silver hair among male gorillas is one of the major signs of maturity.

Young silverback gorilla

Male gorillas have to develop to demonstrate their capabilities to take the leadership of gorilla family. At the age of 12 to 15 years, male gorillas are referred to be young Silverbacks. Those who have just developed the silver hair. Meaning that they are not yet fully mature to take over the leadership of the family.

Mature silverback gorilla

Then at the age of 15 years and above, they are referred to be mature Silverbacks. Those who can even go and fight with another silverback of another family and take over the leadership of the family. At that age silverbacks are estimated to weigh in between 140 kilograms and 180 kilograms.

Silverback and family leadership

Silverbacks take leadership of the family whereby; they are the ones to decide where a gorilla family can go and feed from Where a gorilla family can rest from where a gorilla family can Nest from. So, they play a pivotal role in decision making of the family with the assistance of the alpha females.

The role of alpha female in gorilla family management

Alpha females always help the Silverbacks gorillas to take the leadership of the family. Gorillas can live in families with one Silverback, two, three, or four silverbacks or even more depending on the relationship of the male individuals. We have got families which have got more than 1 Silverback and these Silverbacks realized that they are related Silverbacks.

The role of silverback in reproduction

Silverbacks also play an important role in reproduction. The Silverback is the one to mate with the females in a gorilla family, a dominant Silverback mate with all the female individuals in the family. It’s in this kind of mating that these females can get pregnant, and they give birth to young gorillas or the infants.

The diet of silverback

Silverbacks are estimated to feed for about 18 kilograms of vegetation to 25 kilograms. Gorillas are estimated feed about 10 percent of their body weight on daily basis. So, this is one of the reasons as to why many people may think that Silverbacks are also pregnant because of the bigger tummies that they have got but the reason why they have bigger tummies is because of the too much vegetation that they feed on.

Silverbacks can also feed on fruits

silverbacks can climb up in trees in search for fruits. Among the fruits that Silverbacks and other gorillas feed on include the fig trees, we have got several fig trees that bear fruits on which these animals feed on for instance, diffica sula. Gorillas have other fruits like the course of island. Also have fruits like the marianzas.

So those are some of the fruits that these animals feed on and Silverbacks whenever they need to feed on such foods, they have got potential to climb up in trees in search for such fruits or sometimes when silverbacks feel like they are not in the position to climb up the trees, they can stay down and the rest of the family members who can climb up will keep dropping the fruits down for the silverback to feed on.

The role of silverback in family protection

Silverbacks Also play a very important role in the family protection. Silverbacks in family fights with the view of protecting their family members and sometimes where need be in case one feels is not in position to fight and challenge the intruder, such a silverback may decide to move away with his family members as a way of avoiding losing some of his female members.

The Silverback and chest beat

Silverbacks of got a major behavior of making chest beats. Silverbacks always make chest beats or produce the chest beats as a way of showing off their strengths in case they sense the presence of another family nearby. Then also silverback check on the safety of an area, say for instance they have been feeding far away from a particular location, once they come back to that location, they have to check on the safety of the area to find out whether that area is still safe and one of the ways they do so is by making a chest beat.

Silverback and the irritating smell

Mature silverbacks have got a bad smell that they always produce as a way of showing off their strength. The stronger the smell, the stronger the silverback. When this smell has just been released, one can sense that the silverback has just passed from a given location.

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