Gorillas in a tryst...or how one chest thumping ape wooed his sweetheart

The sight of a mighty silverback gorilla thundering towards you, beating its chest, might cause most of us to turn tail and run.

But for award-winning wildlife photographer Andy Rouse, who took these extraordinary pictures, it was a sign the primate was just trying to impress the ladies and didn't mean him any harm.

The display of bravado from the 28-stone gorilla, called Kigoma, seemed to have the required effect.

Charge! 28-stone silverback Kigoma dashes towards the camera

After this awesome show, he succesfully mated with not one but two females from his group.

And in a touching moment, the mountain gorilla planted a kiss on top of one of their heads as he held her in his strong embrace.

Mr Rouse was leading a group of seven tourists in Rwanda's Virunga Volcanoes National Park at the time of the charge.



He said: 'There was some trepidation in the group when he came at us, but gorillas are gentle giants who rarely hurt humans.



We're required by the park authorities to be at least seven metres away from the gorillas, but a big gorilla can be with you in two seconds if he's charging.

Alpha male: A big of chest-beating to show he's the dominant one

'I said to my clients 'don't panic', and our guide advised us to stand still and make a gap for Kigoma to run through if he wanted.

'He got about a metre away and plonked himself on all fours looking at us. Then he went off to mate. Twice.

'It's amazing to see gorillas in this habitat and Kigoma is really gentle with the females and the babies.'

Kigoma, son of the gorilla group's leader, Kwitonda, is thought to be asserting his place within the group after becoming a fully fledged silverback.

Only kidding: The gentle giant is just trying to impress the ladies with his show of strength

'The only one who can have the females is Kwitonda, but when the son becomes a silverback he can challenge his father,' said Mr Rouse.

'Kigoma is a big, muscular guy - he's taller than me and I'm 6ft - and is starting to challenge his father by mating with the females.



That's quite a dangerous thing for him to do. If he got caught by Kwitonda, he would get beaten. I've heard recently that Kigoma has taken some of the females away with him.'

The gorilla is the largest of the great apes. When mature, males develop a silver-grey back, hence the name silverback. Adult females weigh about 14 stone.

Loving embrace: Kigoma kisses the head of a female after mating with her

But after widespread poaching and the destruction of their habitat, there are only about 680 mountain gorillas left in the wild. But gorilla tourism, which is worth an estimated $3million a year, is increasing their chances of survival.

'Tourism is good for the gorillas,' said Mr Rouse. 'When visitors pay to see the gorillas, the people living here see they're more valuable to them alive than dead. So their numbers are increasing slowly.'