Introduction: The Gorilla beringei beringei or mountain gorilla, was first discovered on October 17th 1902, by a German officer named Captain Robert von Beringe (Berggorilla and Direkthilfe, 2002). Mountain gorillas play a large role in it’s particular ecosystem through consumption the gorillas control and maintain vegetation that is vital for a healthy environment not only for the primate but also other species that live in the environment as well. Since the discovery of the mountain gorilla much fascination has been drawn toward the species. However, the gentle creature’s population has had a sharp decline from Rwanda’s belief in sumu, poaching, human disease, and unregulated tourism. In efforts to revive the species population from extinction, persistent activism through worldly foundations are helping protect the mountain gorilla species. 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
A few weeks ago, I spent a lovely Monday afternoon observing two different primates at the Santa Ana Zoo. I got to the zoo around two in the afternoon, and to my surprise, the zoo was decently crowded. The Santa Ana Zoo is smaller in comparison to other zoos like the Los Angeles Zoo, but still had a decent amount of animals there. Covering a small 20 acres of land, I came across two primates that fit perfectly for the purposes of this course project. I chose to observe an endangered ape, the white-handed gibbon, and an endangered new world monkey, the golden-headed lion tamarin.
Pointed head, a unique anatomical characteristic of the Gorilla. This is attributed in the adult male to a prominent sagittal crest overlaid with a pad of fibro fatty tissue. This characteristic is less pronounced in females and smaller bodied adult males. Extreme muscularity. Broad, flat face. Jaw that protrudes beyond the nose. This anatomical feature (prognathism) is distinctly ape-like. Prognathism is due to the need for large jaws and teeth for mastication. Brow-ridges, above the eyes is a huge shelf of bone. Hair color is most often described as light brown, dark brown or black. Other colors that have been reported are grey, light, white, silver-tipped, and red to reddish-brown. Hair length is longer on the head, shoulders, and arms, than anywhere else on the body. Hair distribution, body is completely hair covered except for patches of bare black skin on the face, chest, soles of feet, and palms of hands. There have been reported attacks on humans but they cannot be proved. Stories of an ape like creature roaming the forests of North America have been around as long as some of the Native Americans tribes started in certain areas, due to the finding of cave painting of sasquatches. However, the earliest written account was made in 1811.
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
There are three different types of gorillas in the groups. There is the silverback male. Silverbacks are the adult males. They get silver hair on their back as part of their growing process, just like when boys grow up and get mustaches
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 Jane Goodall Institute website provides information about the projects regarding the protection of chimpanzees and other primates. Based on the institute’s initiative to protect the primates by providing education to the community, supporting sanctuaries, and working with law enforcements (website JGI). Furthermore, the information provided on the program Roots & Shoots points out a guide to those interested in helping the wild life, and provides aid to elaborate new plans to help the primates. The first step is to acknowledge the problem, in this case is finding a way to protect the chimpanzees. Second, to elaborate a pan, the JGI conservation program uses technology such as cloud computing and remote sensing to provide up to date information on the
Silverback Gorillas like Leon have larger hands than a male human however due to the decreased size (sexual dimorphism) of the females, they obtain similar size hands relating to humans. At the age of 4, Junior had a hand size that was silk at to my own.
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
The primates species that I observed were the Bornean orangutans and the Sumatran orangutans. There were three adult females. one adult male, and one infant female. The orangutans were observed at San Diego zoo’s ape webcam on April 26, 2106.
Dian Fossey was a normal young lady that had the dream of taking part in the research of gorillas in Africa. She attended a conference one evening that was given by Dr. Louis Leaky. Dr. Leaky talked about the enormous problem of keeping the gorillas that roamed the Virunga Mountains of Africa from going extinct. He explained the
The captivity of primates in zoos can be viewed as maltreatment by animal welfare organizations since confining them in such establishments is going against their rights to be liberated and it may cause some unwanted stress, yet zoos provide various enrichment programs, medicinal assistance, scheduled meals that are appropriate for the primate’s diet, and conservation of the said animal. Primate captivity in zoos can be regarded as both moral and unethical for it imprisons primates, however, as their natural habitat dwindles, zoos also preserve primate population through captive breeding. Furthermore, zoos simultaneously deform the lives of the primates, garner sympathetic reactions from humans for these creatures, and inform
For this paper I decided to visit Zoo Atlanta to observe lowland gorillas. I got to the zoo at around eleven in the morning and found out the feeding times for the gorillas. Once I found them, after watching them for a little while I selected the most active group to go watch during feeding. The point of this trip was to make me feel as if I was doing a field laboratory observation of primate social behavior and it definitely did. As you read my paper I will include what I saw, my feelings towards it, and also any questions or facts I received during my visit from volunteers or signs throughout the exhibit. To put this paper
Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate of only 27,000 left in the wild, questions have been raised over what selective pressures are impacting the steady decline of these animals existence. While hunting and poaching have been identified as contributing factors, habitat loss primarily takes center stage in their demise. Conservation efforts have been made and continue to be somewhat successful, however, challenges and set backs continue to threaten
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.
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