• CLASS: Mammalia (Mammals)
• ORDER: Primates
• FAMILY: Hominidae
• GENUS: Gorilla
• SPECIES:gorilla (western gorilla), beringei (eastern gorilla)
• SUBSPECIES:Gorilla gorilla gorilla (western lowland gorilla), Gorilla beringei beringei (mountain gorilla), Gorilla beringei graueri (Grauer's gorilla), Gorilla gorilla diehli (Cross River gorilla)

Gentle giants. Ever since King Kong first gave Fay Wray that unexpected lift to the top of the Empire State Building in 1933, Hollywood has gone ape depicting the gorilla as perfect monster material. They seem to be forever typecast as the heavy. But the truth is, they’re peaceful, family oriented, plant-eating primates that live in complex social groups. They are the largest of all primates—the group of animals that includes monkeys, lemurs, orangutans, chimpanzees, and humans.

Many people like to compare gorillas with humans, but there are several differences. Although they are able to stand upright, gorillas prefer to walk using their hands as well as their legs. Their arms are much longer than their legs, and gorillas can use the backs of their fingers like extra feet when they walk. This is called the knuckle walk.

Like all great apes (except humans), gorillas require rainforests to make their living, and the forest depends upon them, too. The gorilla’s fibrous scat acts as rich fertilizer for the forest, and seedlings sprout from it rapidly, making gorillas important forest regenerators.

Can you imagine waking up each morning surrounded by food? Almost everything a gorilla eats is plant material, so life in the forest is like living in a huge restaurant! And gorillas love to eat—it’s their favorite activity! An adult male eats up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of food each day. A gorilla’s large stomach can hold the bulky food it eats. Strong jaws help the gorilla chew tough stems.

A gorilla that thinks it is in danger will first make threats. If the human ignores the threat display, or surprises the gorilla or gets in its way, it may then escalate to thumping, scratching. 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. Gorilla, a division of Tech Hydraulics, is a premier US-based supplier of boom mounted demolition attachments including hydraulic hammers (hydraulic breakers) and tool bits. Gorilla is serving primarily US market of hydraulic hammers, but it also has many customers abroad. Gorilla is a web toolkit for the Go programming language that provides useful, composable packages for writing HTTP-based applications. Gorilla Web Toolkit. The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is the most abundant species of the genus Gorilla. These animals can be grayish or brownish with a yellowish forehead. The gorillas are distinguished from eastern gorillas by their lighter color and an overhanging tip on their nose.

Gorilla food includes leaves, stems, fruits, seeds, roots, ants, and termites. Unlike chimpanzees, gorillas don’t use tools to get those termites; instead, they just smash the termite mound to get the tasty insects living inside! At the San DIego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, our gorillas are fed a variety of produce and browse material six times a day, as well as special treats like Cheerios and Wheat Chex cereals. This food is scattered all about the exhibit, giving the gorillas plenty of opportunities to hunt for their meals.

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A group of gorillas living together is called a “troop.” There can be 5 to 30 gorillas in one troop, led by a strong, experienced male known as a 'silverback.' His job is a big one. He is responsible for the safety and well being of the members of his troop. The silverback makes all the decisions, such as where the troop travels for food each day, when they stop to eat or rest, and where they spend the night.

A gorilla troop doesn’t stay in the same place for more than a day. After all, the troop doesn’t want to deplete its food source! Each morning the silverback leads his troop to a new area where food is plentiful. After a morning of munching, each adult gorilla gathers leaves, twigs, and branches to make a day nest for resting while the youngsters play. After their nap, the gorillas eat again until bedtime, when they make yet another nest, either on the ground or in a tree, for a good night’s sleep. Gorillas never use the same nest twice.

Gorillas are generally peaceful creatures, but sometimes a younger male from another troop challenges the silverback. To scare unwanted gorillas away, he beats his chest with cupped hands to make a loud noise, screams, bares his teeth, and then charges forward. Sometimes he breaks off branches and shakes them at the intruder. It is an awesome display!

A female gorilla is ready to have babies of her own when she is about eight years old. But first, she must leave the safety of her own troop and find another troop or a lone silverback to live with. The tiny infants only weigh a few pounds at birth, and the mother is generally over 200 pounds (91 kilograms), so the births are quick and easy. A mother carries her baby against her chest for the first several months until the little one can hang on to Mom’s back, which frees up her hands to walk and carry food items.

A newborn grows quickly. At five to six months old it learns to walk, and by 18 months of age it can follow Mom on foot for short distances. Still, the safest place for the youngster is its mother's back as she travels through the dense vegetation of their forest home.

Young gorillas learn by imitating what the others in the troop are doing and by play fighting with other youngsters. Even the stern silverbacks are gentle with the little ones as they practice new skills. A young gorilla stays close to its mom, sharing her nest, until it is four to six years old. Gorillas have been known to nurse for up to three years.

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Gorillas have long been popular at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Gorillas at the Zoo: The Zoo’s first gorillas arrived here as youngsters in 1931. They were about five or six years old. The awesome apes enchanted Zoo visitors, and the two served as wonderful ambassadors for their species. They are immortalized in two bronze busts on the Zoo's front plaza.

Another famous gorilla resident at the Zoo was Albert. Born in Africa, Albert arrived at the Zoo in August 1949 at about four months of age. He and two baby female lowland gorillas were hand raised at the Zoo hospital. In 1965, he fathered Alvila, the first lowland gorilla conceived and born at the San Diego Zoo, and only the seventh gorilla born in managed care. During his years here, Albert endeared himself to an international audience through his majestic stature, mischievous behavior, and gentle demeanor. His spirit continues through his great-grandchildren living at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the ambiance of his namesake restaurant, Albert’s, a full-service restaurant located on the spot of our former open-air gorilla grotto, where Albert lived.

Today, the Zoo has a naturalistic gorilla habitat that is home to six gorillas, in two troops. Each troop gets a half day on exhibit, every day. While one group is outside being admired by Zoo visitors, the other is in the gorillas' spacious indoor area. One group is a 'bachelor troop' consisting of brothers Ekuba, Maka, and Mandazzi.

Paul Donn, born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 1989, heads the Zoo’s other troop. Members of Paul Donn’s family troop are female Jessica, and Paul and Jessica's three-year-old son Denny.

Gorillas at the Safari Park:The San Diego Zoo Safari Park opened to the public in 1972 with gorilla silverback Trib and his mate, Dolly. They produced the first gorilla born at the Park when little Jim arrived in 1973. Vila, a female gorilla born in Africa in 1957 and hand raised at the San Diego Zoo, gave birth in 1965 to the first gorilla born at the Zoo: Alvila. Alvila moved to the Safari Park in 1975, and over her 42 years at the Park, she endeared herself to guests and staff alike. She was the matriarch of five generations and a surrogate mother for several hand raised western lowland gorillas during her lifetime. She was one of the world's oldest gorillas when she passed away in January 2018, at age 60.

Over the years, the Park’s troop has grown and is now led by silverback Winston. He watches over females Kamilah and Kokamo, Kokamo’s son Monroe, and Kokamo's baby girl named Leslie, born October 19, 2016. Other members of Winston’s troop are Imani and Frank, who moved to the Park from the Zoo in January 2013; and Imani's daughter Joanne, born at the Park in 2014.

Frank has a special story: born at the Zoo in September 2008, his mother, Azizi, a hand-raised, first-time mom, was not able to hold Frank correctly to nurse him, so neonatal wildlife care specialists had to intervene. Rather than removing Frank from his troop to raise him in the nursery, the committed caregivers devised a “rear assisting” program that allowed Azizi (and his aunt, Imani) to raise Frank while wildlife care specialists helped out by feeding him and quickly returning him to his family. This strategy was wildly successful, as Frank is now a healthy, confident young gorilla, adored by his family and fans. He has a great time playing with Monroe!

Another gorilla with a remarkable story is Joanne, born via emergency C-section on March 12, 2014. She had to remain at the Park’s veterinary medical center for several days, due to health issues. When she was well, the infant was successfully introduced to her mother, Imani, and the rest of the gorilla troop. They can all be seen daily in the Safari Park’s gorilla habitat!

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Gorillas have no natural enemies or predators, yet these peaceful creatures are at critical risk because of humans. People hunt gorillas for food called bushmeat, and logging and mining companies destroy gorilla habitat. The recent armed conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has caused refugees to pour into previous gorilla habitat. Disease epidemics such as the Ebola virus have recently decimated gorilla populations that were previously considered secure within their natural habitat.

The past 15 years have seen a dramatic decline in gorilla population size, with almost half of the entire eastern gorilla population suspected to have been wiped out. Illegal hunting has become a lucrative activity in the region. While hunters often lay snares targeting other mammals, sadly, many gorillas die or lose limbs after being accidentally ensnared. An illegal pet trade is also on the rise. Behind each infant gorilla caught by poachers, several family members are often killed.

In 2000, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance established a long-term field program in Cameroon, which is now part of our Central Africa Program, focusing on the behavior and habitat use of gorillas and other primates in the mountainous southwestern Cameroon rainforest. It isn’t clear whether gorillas in the area’s Ebo Forest are western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla or Cross River gorillas Gorilla gorilla diehli—or something else. In 2005, we received permission to establish permanent study sites inside the Ebo Forest, where surveys gathering ecological and behavioral data for various wildlife, including gorillas, are collected daily. In 2012, the Central Africa Program established Clubs des Amis des Gorilles (Gorilla Guardian Clubs) in the villages closest to the gorillas to promote community-led conservation initiatives and pride in the unique Ebo gorillas.

The critical conservation status of gorillas underscores the urgency for gorilla conservation science. In collaboration with wildlife managers and conservation scientists in countries where gorilla populations survive, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is involved in the training of range-country conservation scientists in the application of genetic tools and field methods in assessing and monitoring surviving gorilla populations. Performing the first genetic studies on populations of mountain gorillas, it was discovered that regionally, these gorillas are genetically distinct.

Genetic differences were also found within western lowland gorilla populations, which had been considered a single subspecies. By gathering and analyzing fecal samples from gorillas, conservation scientists from San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and wildlife authorities and conservationists in Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon can shed light on the genetic variation across regions.

Africa may seem far away, but there are some things you can do to help! When you buy wood or furniture, ask if the wood has been certified. This means the wood was taken in a way approved by forestry experts. Buying certified wood encourages logging companies in Africa to follow wildlife laws that help protect gorillas and other African wildlife.

Did you know that cellphones have a connection to the well-being of gorillas and other wildlife in central Africa? Here's the 411: cellphones contain a rare ore called coltan (short for columbite-tantalite). This metal is found in central Africa, and increased mining operations to get the coltan means habitat loss and increased hunting pressure on gorillas and other wildlife. Surprisingly, wildlife reserves suffer most from mining. With the increased popularity of cellphones, thousands of illegal miners have invaded the protected parks. Needing food, they have hunted gorillas and elephants to near extinction in these areas.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, along with Eco-Cell, a cellular phone recycling company, has a cellphone-recycling program at both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to encourage visitors to recycle. Our cellphone recycling program helps to keep those obsolete cellphones, chargers, and old batteries out of landfills and to reduce a little of the coltan demand at the same time. We have cellphone collection boxes at our two facilities, so it's really easy to simply drop off those old phones and accessories, working or not. There is no recycling fee to drop off your phone. All cellphones and accessories collected are reused or properly recycled. Every little bit helps!

By supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, you are our ally in saving and protecting wildlife around the globe.

Gorillas are the largest living primates in the world. These animals are predominantly herbivorous and ground-dwelling. Gorillas inhabit the forests of Central Africa. These animals are closely related to human beings, sharing 95% to 99% of their DNA with Homo sapiens. There are two species of gorillas, the eastern gorilla, and the western gorilla. Each species is further divided into two subspecies.

6. Western gorilla -

The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is the most abundant species of the genus Gorilla. These animals can be grayish or brownish with a yellowish forehead. The gorillas are distinguished from eastern gorillas by their lighter color and an overhanging tip on their nose. The males and females of this species have an average height of 155 cm and 135 cm respectively. The Western gorillas live in groups of 2 to 20 including at least one male, several females, and young ones. The animals feed on high-fiber diets that include stems, leaves, flowers, bark, fruits, etc. The Western gorillas are classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The current biggest threat to this species comes from the Ebola virus which has decimated populations by 33% in protected areas. Other threats to the Western gorilla populations include poaching, habitat fragmentation and destruction, and civil wars raging in the countries inhabited by these animals. The reproductive rates of these gorillas are also quite low which makes quick population recovery difficult.

5. Western lowland gorilla -

Gorilla Feed

One of the subspecies of the western gorilla, the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) inhabits the lowland swamps, primary, secondary, and montane forests in central Africa. The range of these gorillas covers the countries of Angola, Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Though the smallest gorilla subspecies, the western lowland gorilla still is one of the biggest and strongest mammals on land. The animals have a jet black skin, coarse hair covering the entire body, and no tails. The older males of this subspecies are often known as silverbacks as they develop gray colored hair on the back and rump. Groups of these gorillas travel within a range of 3 to 18 square miles, and such groups are led by one or more males.

4. Cross River gorilla -

Another species of the western gorilla, the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is the most northern and western living gorilla. Its range is highly restricted, and it is found in the forested hills and mountains at the border of Nigeria and Cameroon near the Cross River’s headwaters. Only about 250 individuals of this species remain as of 2014 making the Cross River gorilla the world’s rarest great ape. Compared to the western lowland gorilla, the Cross River gorilla has a smaller palate, cranial vault, and skull. Measurements also suggest that these gorillas possess smaller hands and feet.

3. Eastern gorilla -

The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is the largest living primate that inhabits the subalpine and mountain rainforests of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and the forests of the Albertine Rift in eastern DRC. The primate is massive in size with a big head, broad chest, and long forelimbs. The gorillas possess black fur, and bald breast, face, feet, and hands. Males of this species weigh around 140 to 205.5 kg while females weigh around 90 to 100 kg. The eastern gorillas are heavily dependent on a foliage based diet. These primates live in stable family groups where a dominant silverback male acts as the family head.

Gorilla Glue

The eastern gorilla was listed as critically endangered in September 2016. The constantly decreasing population of this species led to this classification. Habitat destruction, illegal hunting for bushmeat, encroachment of croplands and human settlements into gorilla habitat are all factors promoting the decline in the eastern gorilla population. 70% of the population of the eastern gorilla has been lost between 1996 and 2016. Fwsim crack key. As of 2016, only around 6,000 individuals of this species remain.

2. Mountain gorilla -

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. Two populations of the mountain gorilla are found, one in Central Africa’s Virunga volcanic mountains and the other in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. Mountain gorillas are smaller and less heavy than the Grauer’s gorilla. An adult male weighs between 140 kg and 205.5 kg. Only about 880 mountain gorillas remain as of 2016.

1. Eastern lowland gorilla -

The Grauer’s gorilla or the eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) is an eastern gorilla subspecies that inhabits the mountainous forests of the DRC. Significant populations of this gorilla subspecies live in the Maiko National Parks, Kahuzi-Biega National Parks, Usala Forest, the Itombwe Massif, and adjacent areas. The Grauer’s gorilla is the biggest subspecies of gorilla and has a jet black coat like the mountain gorilla. However, unlike the latter, the Grauer’s gorilla has shorter hair on the body and head. These animals are classified as critically endangered since only around 3,800 individuals of this subspecies survive to this date.