Did you know that gorillas have 98% of their DNA identical to humans? In this paper I’m going to be teaching you about gorillas and their habitat.
Gorillas are large apes that are native to Africa. They are typically divided into two groups. The mountain gorilla lives in the mountainous regions of central Africa, while the lowland gorilla lives in the flat, dense forests of central and western Africa. Though the two types are very similar, they have a few differences. For example, mountain gorillas tend to have longer hair, whereas lowland gorillas have short, soft hair.
Another difference is size. Lowland gorillas are 4 to 6 feet tall and weigh 150 to 400 lbs. Mountain gorillas are about the same height, though they tend to weigh a bit more.
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Lowland gorillas live in the forests of central and western Africa in Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A group of gorillas can have a territory of up to 16 square miles.
Gorillas are generally herbivores. They usually eat vegetation such as wild celery, shoots, roots, fruit, tree bark and tree pulp, but they have been known to eat small animals and insects. A male can eat up to 40 lbs. of vegetation each day.
Gorillas exact diet depends on where they live. According to Sea World, about 67 percent of a lowland gorilla's diet is fruit; 17 percent comes from leaves, seeds and stems; and 3 percent comes from termites and caterpillars. The mountain gorilla eats a diet that is about 86 percent leaves, shoots and stems; 7 percent roots; 3 percent flowers; 2 percent fruit; and 2 percent snails, ants and grubs.
Gorillas live in groups. Groups of gorillas are called troops or bands. A band of gorillas can have as many as 50 members, though sometimes a band consists of as few as two members. Troops are led by a dominant male, called a silverback, which can often be identified by a gray strip of hair on his
There are many wild animals in the world are in danger. The mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are one of the most threatened species in the world that inherited from monkeys (Macaca Fascicularis) and apes (Hominoidea), which was found in Africa and Arabia about 34-24 millions years ago. Mountain gorillas are Animalia, which phylum is Chordata and class of Mammalia. The mountain gorilla is a subspecies of eastern gorilla, which live in two regions in Africa. There are three countries where mountain gorillas live. They are Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. According to National geographic, there are about 700 mountain gorillas remaining in the earth and half of them live in a Virunga mountains in central Africa. In average, they live about 35 years; the standing height of a mountain gorilla is between 4-6 feet. They’re weight usually between 300-485 pounds and they are bit larger than other type of gorillas. Mountain gorilla usually live in a group and head of their group is called ‘silverback’ that is an adult male who grow a patch of silver hair on their back and hips. However, when dominant silverback die, the whole group face hard time to regroup themselves. Female gorilla usually becomes sexually mature before male gorilla. At the age of 7-8 female gorillas become sexually active, however they started to breed few years later. On the other hand, male gorilla starts
Von Beringe discovered the primate on the summits of the Virunga Volcanoes (Berggorilla and Direkthilfe, 2000). The officer described the mountain gorilla as to be a large manlike ape, that was tall in stature (about 1 1/2 meters tall), and weighed over 200 pounds (Schaller, 2010). The mountain gorilla physical characteristics from other subspecies of primate differs by: lengthy hair, jaw, and teeth, as well as shorter arms (http://wwf-congobasin.org/, 2010). The mountain gorilla is one of the most wooly of primates, it has a long thick coat of fur that is necessary for the high cold altitudes. (Hilyard, 2001). Also, when male
Gentle, peaceful & shy are the words that describe gorillas. Gorillas in the mountains & eastern lowland areas are totally vegetarian & eat leaves, fruits, & stems like bamboo. On the other hand, gorillas in the Western lowlands eat small invertebrates & insects apart from plants. It’s anticipated that approximately 80% of gorilla population’s extinct, because of the destruction of their habitat, humans hunting them down & diseases as a result of Ebola
Western and Eastern gorillas are more genetically distant from one another than are chimpanzees and bonobos. There are few striking physical differences between the subspecies of gorilla, although differences in dentition and skulls reveal distinguishing morphological characteristics of each subspecies. Mountain gorillas have significantly longer hair than their conspecifics, while western gorillas have brown hair. Eastern gorillas have longer faces and broader chests than western gorillas (Rowe 1996; Nowak 1999). Gorillas have dark brown to black fur and black skin. Dominant adult males who control the group, is called silverbacks because have a prominent sagittal crest and striking silver coloration from their shoulders to rump.
The life history of the Cross River Gorilla is considerably long, ranging from gestation period to death (Save Our Species), (Imong, I., & Robbins, M.). The normal female gorilla will not
Gorillas are the largest group of primates and although they are known as being bipedal, similar to humans and other primates, they often use knuckle walking to move around. On observation, they have seems to have a more robust front appearance than their hind legs and behind. Their cranium is taller than other primates and lower mandible more protruding than their snout. They also have human-like ears that are parallel to their eyes and are small in size. They have
I observed a type of Ape known as the Western Lowland Gorilla. The scientific name for a Gorilla is the Gorilla gorilla. Gorillas are the largest of all living primates and at native to west central Africa. Gorillas exhibit sexual dimorphism within their species because males are very obviously much larger than females. The size of the gorillas came across very intimating and gave me an off impression of what this specie was actually going to be like. While observing the gorillas I noticed that these creatures are very slow, lethargic primates. Gorillas move quadrupedally by putting weight down on their arms and knuckles as they walk. They have hands and opposable thumbs, like humans, and are able to grasp things with a better grip. When Gorillas need to reach above themselves such as for leaves or branches they are able to stand on both legs while reaching. While resting Gorillas sit on their bottoms, legs to the side in a similar position that humans do. When resting I noticed that sometimes Gorillas like to take advantage of the moment by self grooming, using their hands. Gorillas usually have an herbivore diet but eat occasional insects. Due to their large body structure it is harder for them move around quickly so they do not need to eat foods that contain as much nutrients and proteins as smaller,
Apes and primates come in all different shapes and sizes. They all exhibit different characteristics and most importantly different behaviors that separate these different primates. The thing that is the most fascinating is really how similar they are to us. The similarities go past structure, similarities can also be seen in their behavior and how they think similar to a rational human being. Gorillas are the biggest primate currently alive on earth and they are also one of the smartest as seen through Koko the gorilla who actually understands english and can effectively use sign language. Gorillas are truly fascinating creatures that exhibit behaviors
The observations of Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and Western Gorillas (Gorilla Gorillas) were made on 31th October, 2015 at the San Francisco Zoo where is located on 1 Zoo Road San Francisco, CA 9413. The observations has lasted about 3 hours, from 1:40 pm – 4:40 pm, and each primate has been observing for around 1 to 2 hours. Common Squirrel monkey is a small new
The theory was that gorillas were just one species, but gradually changed as they spread and adapted to different habitats. Gorillas are non-territorial and
What to expect when challenging the silverback: Standing Upright Throwing things Agressively charging Roaring or barking powerful hoots while banging on chest Mountain Gorillas are normally calm and non agressive unless distubed. Physical Appearance Have longer hair Have shorter arms Tend to be a bit larger than normal gorillas Average height is 1.25-1.75 meters Max height is 2 meters Average weight is 135- 220 kiligrams Max weight is 272.155 kilograms Social Behaviors Ususally found in groups of 30 individuals Groups are called troops Led by a domiant, called a silverback Found in Congo SilverBack (THE LEADER) Called Silverback because of a swath of silver fur on thier back Organizes things like Eating Nesting Moving about the 2- 40 square
Many people think chimpanzees are a monkey and they don't know what the difference between monkey and apes are. Actually, bonobo and chimpanzees are apes and have similarity genetic code with a human. However, gorillas also share same genetic to human and they mostly have similar behaviors like a human, like eat food, move, or shape like hands. The author Kristina Cawthon Lang “National Primate Research Center in Wisconsin” talked about what is the difference of the behaviors between a gorilla, chimpanzee, and bonobo. The author Lewis, R B, Robert Jurmain and Lynn Kilgore talked in the book “Understanding Humans: Introduction to Physical Anthropology and Archaeology” about many kinds of apes and monkeys, and also what is different between of them.
Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei (scientific name) ), are critically endangered with only about 880 left in the wild. Mountain gorillas live in Africa’s national parks in protection.
I can live in “both swamp and terra firma lowland forests throughout the Western Equatorial Africa.” (IUCN, 2016). We usually live in groups, mostly from 5 to 15 members, with a dominant male who serves as our alpha and protector. The dominant male gorilla will be chosen if he is the strongest and oldest silverback within the group (Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, 2016), and because of the privileges of being an alpha, which is having the opportunity to mate with the females in the group, to become the dominant one who usually makes the decision when to eat or move out to another place, he sometimes have to compete or to show off with the other silverbacks or male gorillas in order to maintain his position and
Beginning with the most intelligent of the bunch, the (western lowland) gorillas I observed were quite inactive. This is certainly so because they are known to only be hunted by man leaving no competition outside of their own species. This fact makes it apparent why these kings of the jungle sit around so often. In the wild and even in zoos it may be difficult for a male to find mates because groups of gorillas are POLYGYNOUS. So usually one male is the father of all of the offspring. Being this way, male gorillas must display DOMINANCE over others and even stand their ground against an incoming male that may threaten the family. Going back to how they sit all day, gorillas are able to do this because they don’t even have to move to replenish energy for the reason that they are grass and leaf eaters (vegetarians). Not having to move very much makes gorillas capable of having a low-quality diet.