What is a Gorilla?
Equatorial Africa’s tropical woods are home to huge, herbivorous gorillas that spend much of their time on the ground. Within each of the two gorilla species that comprise the genus Gorilla, the eastern and western gorillas there exist four or five subspecies.
With 95–99% of their DNA similar to human DNA, depending on what is included, gorillas are the second closest living relatives of humans, behind chimpanzees.
Among the great apes, gorillas are the largest. They have broad shoulders and chests, large hands that resemble human hands, small eyes set in hairless faces, and stocky bodies.
The two gorilla species are found in equatorial Africa, divided by the Congo Basin forest by roughly 560 miles.
There are upland and lowland subspecies of each. Gorillas live in family groups of five to ten, occasionally two to over fifty, with a dominant adult male, known as a silverback, at the head of the group who maintains his position for years.
The foundation of gorilla social life is the bond between the silverback and his females. Around the age of seven or eight, females reach sexual maturity, but they don’t start reproducing until a few years later. Men reach maturity at an even earlier age.
A female will usually give birth to just one child every four to six years once she starts breeding and only three or four babies in her lifetime. The low reproduction rate of gorillas poses a challenge to their ability to rebound from population decreases.
The number of both gorilla species has been declining for decades, and according to a 2010 United Nations estimate, they would vanish from a significant portion of the Congo Basin by the middle of the 2020s.
Governments, the WWF, and other groups are making a difference for gorillas through conservation efforts. The mountain gorilla population has been growing recently, and some populations are getting new protected areas. As a result, in November 2018, the species was down listed from Critically Endangered to Endangered.
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Facts about gorillas
The largest of the great apes. The five species of great apes include gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and humans. Gorillas are the largest of these species.
Identified by a sagittal crest
A sagittal crest, which is a longitudinal bone ridge running along the midline of the top of the skull (at the sagittal suture) is a characteristic of adult male gorillas. They are called “silverbacks” because of the presence of this ridge of bone (which suggests that the jaw muscles are incredibly strong) and a patch of white hair on the back.
Muscular arms, longer than their legs
A huge, robust mammal, gorillas have broad shoulders and chests. Their limbs are longer than their legs and possess huge hands resembling those of humans.
Gorillas have both black hair and skin
A male gorilla’s chest is likewise hairless, and they have black skin and hair, but no hair on their face, hands, or feet and little eyes placed on faces devoid of hair. The gorilla’s face features a strong brow ridge, big nostrils, tiny eyes, and short ears. Males are twice as heavy as females
At 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) in height and 135–220 kg (300–485 pounds) in weight, male gorillas are roughly twice as heavy as female gorillas. The average adult female weighs between 70 and 90 kg and stands 1.5 meters tall.
Species of gorilla
There are two different kinds of gorillas, and they are both found in equatorial Africa, which is situated on or near the equator. The Congo Basin forest separates them by roughly 560 miles.
There are both lowland and highland subspecies of every gorilla species. There are two subspecies of each of the two species in the Eastern and Western gorillas.
Threats to the four-gorilla subspecies include disease, bush meat, poaching, deforestation, habitat degradation, and endangerment (classified as either Endangered or Critically Endangered).
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Gorilla social structure
With a highly evolved and intricate social structure, gorillas live in family groups that normally consist of five to ten members, though they can vary as much as two to fifty members.
One or two males (silverbacks), females, babies, and young adult males (black backs) usually make up the family. The dominant male or males might hold the title of “head of the family” for an extended period of time. The silverbacks are the family’s leaders.
Mountain Gorilla
When a male matures and becomes an adult, he will both depart from the group and find his own territory close to his ancestral home or he will stay with the group and become the dominant male’s offspring, who will eventually assume leadership of the group.
Gorilla life cycle
Male gorillas often do not attain sexual maturity until they are 15 years old, whilst female gorillas reach sexual maturity at the age of 7-8 but do not start breeding until a few years later.
Gorilla gestation period
Gorilla females typically give birth once every four years. They usually give birth to a single child throughout the eight and a half month (257 day) gestation period. Over her lifetime, the female will only give birth to three or four children. The low reproduction rate of gorillas poses a challenge to their ability to rebound from population decreases.
Gorilla life expectancy
In the wild, gorillas often live 35 to 40 years of age. At maturity, female gorillas split off from their group to live with other groups or with lone males.
Communication and sounds
The gorilla is a peaceful and rather shy animal.
Wild gorillas utilize a range of cries to communicate, including as grunts, hoots, barks, and roars (which are reserved for the more aggressive males). A gentle and non-aggressive species, gorillas do not bite unless they are agitated beyond reason.
The group’s silverback typically confronts unwanted guests head-on, using aggressive, domineering tactics to drive them away and safeguard his group. Typically, this angry show consists of loud roars, chest beatings, and brief sprints in the direction of the intruder.
Males and females both beat their chests. Chest beating is frequently a component of a ceremony that may also involve hitting the ground, tearing vegetation, and running sideways. These displays serve as a means of communication between groups and are frequently employed to uphold the hierarchy of authority within the group in addition to frightening outsiders.
Gorilla diet
Primarily plant-eating, gorillas consume fruits, stems, and bamboo shoots along with some bark and insects. It has been observed that certain lowland gorillas in the west crack up termite nests in order to consume the larvae.
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