What Do Gorillas Eat? (And Other Interesting Facts about Gorillas)

No study of this fascinating creature would be complete without first taking a look at that one word: Primate.  Just what is a primate?

The word usually brings up images of chimpanzees, monkeys, apes, and yes, gorillas.  But there are a couple of surprises in that classification too.

The first is the somewhat cat-like Lemur.  These belong to the classification of lower primate, but they are definitely in there. The lower primates tend to be less “man-like” and perhaps a little less evolved than their bigger brothers.

The second surprise is man themselves.  Homo Sapiens, mankind itself, is a primate.  So when we call the gorillas our animal cousins, we really aren’t kidding!

Gorillas live in Africa, excepting their relatives that can be found in captivity all around the world.  But in the wild, they live in Africa.

Of course it goes a little deeper than that.  There are three different breeds of gorillas, each claiming a different part of Africa for its home.

The Western Lowland Gorilla: This race of gorilla can be found in Equatorial Guinea, Congo, Cameroon, Gabon, and the Central Africa Republic.  This group of apes have a brownish gray coat, and the male’s white saddle goes all the way to the rear and upper thighs.

The Eastern Lowland Gorilla: This breed can be mainly found in Zaire. Its coat is black, but for the male’s customary white saddle which is restricted to their backs with this race.

The Mountain Gorilla: We bet you can guess where to find the mountain gorillas, can’t you?  Yup, in the mountains!  You’ll find them in the higher altitudes of Zaire, Rwanda, and Uganda.  They resemble the Eastern breed, but their arms are a bit shorter and their hair a bit longer.

Image Credit: Pixabay, Public Domain

The size of a group of great apes can vary between just two all the way up to around 35! The group will always have a silverback male for protection. (The males are called silverbacks because of their silvery white saddle.) The others of the group will be the silverback’s female “harem” and their offspring.

An interesting note is that the females will leave their “birth” family and find another group to travel with once it is time for them to breed.  The males will leave of their own accord and travel in solitude until they come across and gather enough females to make a group of their own. Neither are forced out, it is simply their nature to do so.

We've covered some of the basics so far, but here are some other fun and interesting facts you might not know about our wild-life cousins:

• The average male grows to a height of around 5'6". The average female is smaller at roughly 5' even.
• The males can quite literally weigh in twice as much as the females. A silverback (male) can reach 400 pounds, while a female usually weighs around 200 pounds.
• A gorilla will live about 35 years in the wild and 50 years in captivity.
• These great apes stay mainly on the ground, however they can make occasional trips up into the forest canopy while foraging for food.
• Gorillas walk on their hind legs (kind of like humans) but they use the knuckles of their arms to pivot.
• While sometimes portrayed as aggressive beasts, they are actually quite peaceful. The silverback is only aggressive if one of his group is in danger.  Humans can get quite close to the group without risking harm.