WELCOME!


Welcome to the temporary site for timhearnwildlife.com.

I'll be posting a few shots here while working on the main site, which is currently under construction...

Timhearnwildlife has been a long term passion and project of mine which is now reaching fruition. It is (or strictly speaking, will be) a commercial resource for wildlife and natural history photography and writing.

Over the last 10 years, I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively to all 7 continents, taking photographs and notes, and the site will showcase the results.

Please feel free to browse....



Monday 26 July 2010

GORILLA FEMALE BREASTFEEDING



As you might expect, mountain gorillas form extremely strong family ties, particularly between mother and baby. For the first 5 months, the infant is in constant contact with the mother, who in turn remains close to the dominant silverback of the whoop for protection. (A group of gorillas is a 'whoop' for any collective noun geeks). The infant will be suckling every hour or more, as seen in the first shot here.

After 5 months, the infant may stray from the mother for a few seconds at a time and then, at 1 year old, they wander up to 5 metres or so from her- again, only for a few seconds.

By 2 years old, the infants are nursing approximately every 2 hours. They are still sharing a sleeping nest with the mother, but beginning to wander farther afield, only remaining in close contact with the female for about 50% of the time.

Finally they are weaned at 3 years old, and the mother will begin ovulating again. At this point, the silverback has a large grin on his face.



Gorilla infants learn from watching the adults and sub adults, often just sitting nearby and staring at them with intense concentration.

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