May 11, 2026
King Kong of bad decisions
Silverback Imfura took a chance, and ended up alone
He ditched the group for a power move, and the internet says it got painfully relatable
TLDR: Imfura tried to break away from his gorilla group and lead two females on his own, but both returned to the main group and left him solo. Commenters turned it into breakup-and-failure theater, while others argued we may be projecting too much human drama onto gorillas.
This gorilla saga has the internet treating Volcanoes National Park like a wild reality show. Silverback Imfura, long stuck in the not-quite-boss role inside the famous Pablo group, spent two years picking fights, sulking on the sidelines, and clearly wanting the top spot. Then came his big chance: two females, Umwiza and Urungano, transferred in, and Imfura swept them away to start his own group. For a minute, it looked like his risky bid for gorilla glory might actually work. Then the plot twisted. His leadership turned shaky, the little group kept moving, trust fell apart, and both females returned to Pablo—leaving Imfura completely alone.
The comments were a glorious mix of soap opera obsession, skepticism, and memes. One camp was fully locked in, shouting out a recent Armchair Expert episode with Tara Stoinski and a new Netflix documentary narrated by David Attenborough, basically saying: yes, they will absolutely binge gorilla politics like prestige TV. Another camp hit the brakes, asking whether people are reading too much human drama into animal behavior and wondering how much researchers can really know about motives, grief, and ambition. That debate gave the thread its sharpest edge.
And then came the joke that summed up the mood best: “Relatable.” Brutal, concise, devastating. Because beneath the conservation story was a very online reading of events: guy fumbles promotion, makes a chaotic power play, loses the girls, and ends up alone. The community did not miss the parallel.
Key Points
- •Imfura, a 17-year-old silverback in the Pablo group, had spent about two years disrupting the group while trying to gain a more dominant role.
- •The article says Imfura struggled with the rise of silverback Ubwuzu and was repeatedly pushed to a marginal position after fights.
- •On Oct. 11 and Oct. 12, 2025, females Umwiza and Urungano transferred during interactions involving the Pablo and Musilikale groups.
- •Imfura used the arrival of the two females to lead them away and form a new independent group.
- •By Nov. 30, both females had returned to Pablo’s group, where they were quickly accepted, leaving Imfura alone.