Fun 16 Facts About Gorilla : Mountain gorillas are one of the subspecies of gorillas ‘’Eastern gorilla’’ they live in the forested wilderness of Africa. They are endangered species that is so closely related to human genetics as far as concerned ‘’98% DNA’’ and its one of the most touristic attractions on a list of an Africa Safaris.
Fact, Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of the Eastern gorilla. Other subspecies known as the Eastern lowland gorilla.
What makes the mountain gorillas more intriguing than the other subspecies of gorillas, the fact is that; they cannot survive in a captive environment of the zoo. Definitely, this shows that other gorillas in wildlife zoos are not mountain gorillas. Meaning the mountain gorillas can’t survive in a zoo but they can only survive in their natural inhabitant.
Observing gorillas in person – with your own eyes is an experience that someone can never forget. And this the best way to do it. They have personalities, moods and subtleties that make every experience quite different.
Mountain gorillas in the world can only be found in three countries; Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Before you head out to the nature inhabitant, you need to first know some of the interesting facts and habits of the unique species ‘’mountain gorillas’’
Facts About Mountain Gorillas;
Gorilla are big;
Gorillas are known as the largest land-dwelling mammal and the biggest primates.
An adult mountain gorillas’ measures at 4 to 6 feet in height. Silverback is the biggest than average estimates.
Longer Arms
Their arms are longer than their legs. This is the reason why they usually walk on all fours.
They walk on the knuckles of their hand which is called ‘’Knuckle walking.
Gorillas can also walk with only their legs like human do but knuckle walking gives them more balance to climb trees and steep hills.
Longer, thicker hair
Their longer and thicker body hair supports them to stay in cold -high altitude places. Mountain gorillas live in tropical climates which are wet much of the year. Gorillas are able to stay warm due to the hair covering their bodies. This is livelier for the mountain gorillas that stay in high altitude places of around 2,320 meters above sea level.
Grey hair on the back
A mature male’s hair turns grey; the grey hair starts from the back -thus the name silverback. After a young male gorilla named black back matures, the hair on its back begins to turn grey or silver. They can be at the age of 10 to 12 years.
Eye Colour
They have dark brown eyes, framed by a dark ring around the iris. Gorillas are said to have a singular eye colour of dark brown but unlike humans who have many eye colours. Some domestic animals tend to have more than one eyes colour, but rare in wild animals.
Unique Fingerprints nose patterns
Mountain gorillas have unique fingerprints, like those for humans.
Gorillas also have a unique nose pattern that is specific to each gorilla. Since you may not see their finger much closer, the nose pattern ‘’nose print’’; It’s what you can use to distinguish between two similar looking individuals.
Gorilla weight – Strength
The biggest gorillas ‘’Eastern lowland’’ weighs up to 250 kg ‘’550 pounds’’. The average human weight ranging from 65 kilograms to 70 kilograms, the Eastern lowland gorillas weigh more than 3people put together.
Habitat;
Limited habitat
Mountain gorillas are only seen in Rwanda, DRC and Uganda. Seen in either Virunga Volcanic range ‘’shared by Rwanda, Congo and Uganda ‘’ or Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The remaining population in the wild is around 1065 individuals
Previous number have been recorded much lower and their number has risen in recent years.
Mountain gorillas can only survive in their natural habitat.
Social Facts About Gorillas;
Life Expectancy
Gorillas have a life span of about 35 to 40 years those in the wild.
Like Humans, gorillas also mostly die of diseases, natural causes and accidents.
Gorilla Families
Gorillas live in small groups called troops – a gorilla family usually consists of about 30 individuals, with one silverback as the leader.
Dominant Silverback
Each gorilla family is headed by a silverback. If a silver back dies in that particular group, the females look for another family to Join.
Family safety
Silverbacks are in charge of protecting the family. Every troop or gorilla family is headed by a silverback which is in charge of leading the whole troop to different places for food.
Reproduction
Gorillas takes 8.5 months to have babies. This is two weeks less than the gestation period of humans.
Note; Gorillas usually produce one baby at a time but will rarely give birth to twins. The female gorillas produce an average of 3 babies in their lifetime
Baby gorillas are called infants and nurse til they are about three years old. In the period of three years, infants are able to walk and feed on their own-without the mother’s help.
Learning language
They can learn language by use of basic tools and even make some tools. Gorillas both in the wild and in zoos have shown improved language skills in both sigh language and spoken language.
They can learn up to 2000 words.
Stronger than a human
The average gorilla estimates 6times stronger than an average human.
How much a gorilla eats
Adult eats over 25kilograms ’40 pounds’’ of vegetation ‘’10% of its body weight’’.
Averagely, a human eats 4 pounds every day -meaning a single grown gorilla eats as much as ten people in a day. This means that 5 gorillas will eat 73000 pound of food in one year.
Gorilla Tourism
Gorilla tourism is the greatest contributing factors that has supported towards the work of conservation of gorillas, infrastructure, building health center, schools and catering locals in the community around the park, through setting a project to get money for their home consumption. This means, the money collected from gorilla permits to watch gorillas is used to fund activities like research and monitoring.
