🐾 Gorilla

Gorilla

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Gorilla gorilla
• Family & relatives: Family Hominidae (great apes); closest kin are the Eastern gorilla, chimpanzees, and humans.
• How to spot it: Massive black-furred ape; adult males are 'silverbacks' with a silver-gray saddle across the back.

Its body & abilities

• Size: Standing height about 1.4-1.8 m; arm span can reach 2.6 m.
• Weight: Males weigh around 140-180 kg; females about half that.
• Body & adaptations: Huge muscles, long arms for knuckle-walking, and a bony head crest that anchors powerful jaw muscles.
• Top speed: Can charge in short bursts up to about 40 km/h.
• Strength: A silverback is estimated to lift or move several times its own body weight.
• Senses: Keen eyesight and hearing, with a good sense of smell used to track food and other gorillas.
• Growing up: Babies cling to their mother's fur, ride on her back, and stay dependent for about 3-4 years.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Lowland tropical rainforests, swamp forests, and dense secondary growth.
• Where in the world: West-central Africa, including Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea.
• Territory: A group roams a home range that overlaps with neighbors rather than a strictly defended border.

What it eats

• Diet: Mainly herbivorous, eating vast amounts of plants and getting most water from juicy foods.
• Favorite foods: Fruit, leaves, stems, pith, and shoots, plus the occasional termite or ant.
• How it hunts: Forages by day, traveling through the forest and using strength to strip bark and break stems.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Walks on all fours on its knuckles and can stand or climb when needed.
• When it is active: Active during the day (diurnal), resting at midday and building a fresh nest each night.
• Family life: Lives in a family group called a troop or band, led by one dominant silverback.
• How it talks: Uses grunts, hoots, and the famous chest-beat, plus facial expressions and body posture.
• Babies: After about 8.5 months of pregnancy, a female usually gives birth to a single infant.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: A key seed disperser that shapes the forest; healthy adults have almost no natural predators except leopards and humans.
• Conservation: Critically Endangered (IUCN), threatened by poaching, habitat loss, and Ebola outbreaks.
• Dangers: Disease, poaching, and infant loss are leading causes of death.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: Around 35-40 years in the wild and often over 40 in captivity.
• In our culture: An icon of wildlife conservation, famous from films and gorilla-trekking tourism.
• Where to see it: Protected rainforests of Gabon, Congo, and Cameroon, and many accredited zoos.
• Fun fact: Every gorilla has a unique nose print, just like human fingerprints.