A pair of twin mountain gorillas was born in Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, park officials announced. The birth is a rare occurrence for the endangered primates.

Community trackers discovered the mother, a 22-year-old gorilla named Mafuko, with her newborn sons on Saturday. According to the park, both mother and offspring appeared to be healthy. Staff at Virunga National Park will closely monitor Mafuko and her twins during this critical early period. Twin births account for an estimated 1% of all mountain gorilla births, though precise data remains limited.

Virunga National Park, established a century ago, is Africa's oldest and largest national park. It was founded to protect mountain gorillas, whose population numbers fewer than 1,100 in the wild. The gorillas are only found in the Virunga Massif, a region spanning DR Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies mountain gorillas as endangered on its Red List of threatened species.

Virunga National Park is located in a conflict-prone region of DR Congo, which presents ongoing challenges for conservation efforts. The park's rangers face considerable risks protecting the gorillas from poaching and habitat destruction.