Monitoring Gorillas at the FVGP

As part of our gorilla health monitoring program, the gorilla caretakers are trained to document observations every fifteen minutes for each individual FVGP gorilla throughout the day and every day. This way, we have been gathering information since January 2007 on:

It is well known, when disease has occured, that gorillas instinctively "hide" clinical signs until the final stage of the disease. These time budgets, along with other tools, therefore help us monitor the health of each gorilla on a daily basis.  At the end of every day, the time budget values are computed by a local staff, and verbal reports by the gorilla caretakers are given to the on-site veterinarian who then, with the assistance of the gorilla caretakers, makes a plan for the following day. 

Following are the daily time budgets for FVGP's three Sanctuary gorillas.  These values, along with other complementary tools, are what help us ascertain whether a gorilla, on any given day, is okay or may be dealing with a subclinical issue;