The Solemn Bond
by Randy Gebhardt
Title
The Solemn Bond
Artist
Randy Gebhardt
Medium
Photograph
Description
Mornings in the Virunga Mountains, a chain of volcanic summits along the bprder of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, are busy. Some 20 groups of gorillas, extended families numbering 8-20, move quietly through the bamboo forest in search of breakfast. They lounge and roll, the babies play, and the teenagers get into trouble. The alpha silverback – father, grandfather, and great-grandfather – often lays by himself in seeming contemplation, and mothers often take their first-year babies away for quiet time. Here, a mother in the Hirwa group enjoys a solemn moment with her baby. When a rich breakfast of various leaves, shoots and grasses is finished, the family, which may be spread out by a hundred yards, all gathers around the silverback and lays down for a quiet nap among a nest of branches and grass.
Uploaded
September 20th, 2015
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