Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The Gorilla

The gorilla is a large ape that lives in Africa. There are two types of gorilla. The first sub species lives in the mountain regions located in central Africa and is commonly known as the mountain gorilla. The other subspecies is known as the lowland gorilla and lives in the dense and flat forests of western and central Africa. Whilst both types of gorilla have a lot of similarities, there are also some key differences:

• The lowland gorilla is a little bit lighter than its mountain cousin.
• Both species measure between 4 to 6 feet.
• Mountain gorillas have longer hair.
• The gorilla is the world’s largest primate.

Habitat

The mountain gorilla can be found on green volcanic mountains located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. Lowland gorillas on the other hand dwell in the forests of western and central African countries such as Gabon, Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. According to National Geographic, the territory of a gorilla group can range up to 16 square miles.

What do gorillas eat?

In general the gorilla is a herbivore and has a diet consisting of tree pulp, tree bark, fruit, roots, shoots and wild celery. They have also been known on occasion to eat insects and small animals. An adult male gorilla is able to eat as much as 40 lbs of vegetation each day.

The exact diet of a gorilla depends on where they live. Roughly two thirds of a lowland gorillas diet consists of fruit, 17 per cent of their diet is made up of stems, seeds and leaves whilst 3 per cent comes from caterpillars and termites. In contrast a mountain gorilla’s diet consists of 86 per cent stems, shoots and leaves. 7 per cent comes from roots and 3 per cent flowers.

Habits

Gorillas are social animals that live in groups known as troops or bands. A gorilla troop can contain as many as 50 members, though it is possible for some troops to have as few as two members. Gorilla troops are typically led by a single dominant male known as a silverback, which is distinctive because he has a streak of grey hair on his back.

Gorilla troops have a routine over the course of the day. The evenings and mornings are usually designated as feeding time. Nap time is during the middle of the day, when they also play with and groom one another. At night time the gorillas goes to sleep on beds made from twigs and leaves.

Offspring

As is the case with humans, female gorillas gestate for nine months and tend to give birth to a single infant at a time. A newly born gorilla weighs approximately 4 lbs when they are born. Baby gorillas ride on their mothers back from about 4 months to 2 or 3 years.

When they reach 7 to 10 years the gorilla reaches sexual maturity and is able to have its own offspring. When this happens, the gorilla will usually leave the group to find its own mate. Gorillas have a lifespan of around 35 years in the wild and over 50 years in captivity.

Conservation status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies both types of gorilla as endangered on its Red List of Threatened Species. Both types of gorilla have suffered from habitat destruction and hunting. It is estimated that there are approximately 680 mountain gorillas left located in two different population groups.

The low land gorilla is also critically endangered though it is not known exactly how many of these gorillas are left. It is thought that their population has fallen by more than 80 per cent over three generations and it is estimated there are about 100,000 lowland gorillas left.