Betina

BETINA – ADULT FEMALE

Name:                          Betina

Meaning of name:         The word means ‘shy’ in Rukiga.

Age:                            Age unknown – but estimated to be relatively young.

Who’s yo daddy?           Father unknown

Who’s yo mama?          Mother unknown

Betina is the youngest of the adult females and is extremely bashful. While the other females are more forward, were prone to charge during habituation and basically exercise their high ranking status in the family, Betina is cut from a different cloth. She is so timid that she was the last of the family to take up friendship with humans.

When a group is being habituated it reaches a point where the gorillas stop charging the trackers and even allow the trackers to sit at a distance for a period of time (not too long though as even gorilla families need their space). While the other gorillas would go about their business without a care, Betina would be very wary of the men and would hide at a calculated distance – as far as she could get from the men, but close enough to Ndahura (the dominant silverback) in case she needed his protection.

Her reticence is now water under the bridge as she no longer displays any nervousness in the presence of humans.

Betina is mother the proud mother of the juvenile Twakire.