Mammals · Great Apes

Gorilla

Gorilla gorilla & Gorilla beringei

Critically Endangered

Gorillas are the largest living primates, powerfully built ground-dwelling apes native to the forests of equatorial Africa. Despite an imposing frame and a dominant male’s deep chest-beating display, gorillas are gentle, mostly herbivorous animals that live in close-knit family groups led by a mature "silverback" male.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Primates

Family: Hominidae

Genus: Gorilla

Species: 2 — western gorilla (G. gorilla) & eastern gorilla (G. beringei)

Subspecies: 4, incl. mountain gorilla & Grauer’s gorilla

Nearest relatives: Chimpanzees, bonobos and humans

Size

4–6 ft standing height (rarely upright for long); arm span up to 8.5 ft. Males are roughly twice the size of females.

Weight

300–485 lbs for wild males; females 150–250 lbs. Captive males can exceed 500 lbs.

Habitat

Lowland tropical rainforest (western gorilla) and montane/bamboo forest up to 13,000 ft elevation (mountain gorilla, a subspecies of eastern gorilla).

Description

A stocky, muscular body, long arms used for knuckle-walking, a pronounced sagittal crest on the skull, and a saddle of silver-grey hair on mature males — the "silverback."

Diet

Almost entirely herbivorous — leaves, shoots, stems, bark and fruit, occasionally insects. An adult male can eat 40–50 lbs of vegetation a day.

Intelligence

Among the most cognitively sophisticated non-human animals, capable of tool use, learning sign language (as demonstrated by Koko) and self-recognition in mirrors.

Communication

More than 25 distinct vocalizations, plus chest-beating, body posture and facial expression; chest-beating signals excitement or a challenge, not necessarily aggression.

Gestation

About 8.5–9 months, very close to human gestation.

Birth & Litter Size

A single infant, weighing about 4 lbs, clinging to its mother’s belly then back for the first several years.

Sexually Mature

6–8 years for females, 10–12 years for males, though males rarely lead a group before 15.

Life Span

35–40 years in the wild, up to 50+ in captivity.

Social Structure

Troops of 5–30 individuals led by one dominant silverback male, who makes group decisions on movement, feeding and defense and mediates conflicts.

Did You Know?

Gorillas share roughly 98% of their DNA with humans, making them one of our closest living relatives after chimpanzees and bonobos.

Did You Know?

A gorilla builds a fresh nest of bent and folded branches every single night — on the ground for adults, in trees for youngsters — and never reuses one.

Did You Know?

Chest-beating is not primarily a threat display. It usually signals excitement, invites play, or communicates the silverback’s location to the rest of the troop over the dense noise of a rainforest.