Gorillas are powerful apes that have large wide heads and short necks. They are the world’s largest living primates known as the most powerful and striking animals. They are known for not only their size but also their gentle human-like behavior. They inhabit of tropical forests of equatorial Africa.
Their heads are massive that overhanging the eyes and a bony sagittal crest on the top of heads. The sagittal crest helps them to grind the foods they eat.
Their stomachs are larger than their chests and their stomach size is attributed to their enlarged intestines that help them to digest what they consume.
And their hand’s thumb and feet opposable big toe help them to grasp and manipulate different objects.
Gorillas live in wild of several African countries. Among these are Uganda, Rwanda, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Angola has the largest populations. Eastern gorillas and western gorillas are two main species that exist today.
And Eastern gorillas have two subspecies and are eastern lowland gorilla and the other is the mountain gorilla. The two subspecies of western gorillas are western lowland and cross river gorilla. Gorillas live in 5 to 10 or more than 50 family member groups led by a dominant adult male who holds his position in the group for years.
How Much Does A Gorilla Weigh?
The eastern lowland gorilla that is also known as “Grauer’s Gorila” is the largest among all four subspecies.
On average a western lowland adult male gorilla can weigh around 374 pounds or 169.5 kg and a female can weigh around 158 pounds or 71.5 kg.
An adult male mountain gorilla can weigh up to 484 pounds or 220 kg and a female can weigh around 215 pounds or 97.7 kg.
On average an adult eastern lowland gorilla can weigh up to 484 pounds or 220 kg and a female can weigh up to 176 pounds or 80 kg.
A fully grown male silverback gorilla can weigh around 300 to 430 pounds or 135 kg to 195 kg and a female can weigh up to 150 to 250 pounds or 70 kg to 115 kg.
Some reports showed a gorilla can weigh up to 600 pounds or 272 kg or more but it is rare.
Weight Examples Of Different Gorillas:
+Western Lowland Gorilla – 150-500 pounds (68-227 kg)
+Cross River Gorilla – 220-440 pounds (100-200 kg)
+Mountain Gorilla – 300-485 pounds (136-220 kg)
+Eastern Lowland Gorilla – 225-550 pounds (102-249 kg)
How Much Does A Baby Gorilla Weigh?
During birth, a baby gorilla can weigh around 3 to 4.5 pounds or 1.4 kg to 2.04 kg. Although male gorillas can weigh twice of females.
How Much Do Gorillas Eat?
Most gorillas are herbivores who love to eat bamboo, fruit, shoots, vines etc. And some western lowland gorilla eats small insects and other similar insects. Each day an adult gorilla can eat up to 66 pounds or 30 kg of food.
How Long Does A Gorilla Live?
A gorilla’s life span depends on its living style. A wild gorilla can live up to 35 to 40 years or more. In captivity, they can live up to 50 years or more. The recorded oldest ever gorilla was a female western gorilla at Columbus zoo that lived 60 years and died in 2017.
Where Do Gorillas Sleep?
Gorillas build nests made of leaves and branches on the ground and trees and they slip in there. It takes around 5 minutes to build the nest. They start making nests 1 hour before the sunset. They stay on their nest throughout the night like people.
Although they slip longer than humans which is an average of 12 hours for each night! Mountain gorillas build their nest on the ground and others love elevated nests. Younger gorillas love to rest in the day and make nests occasionally.
How Many Babies Do Gorillas Have?
Like humans, female gorillas produce one baby every four to six years intervals and in total, a female gorilla gives birth three or four times in her total life.
How Strong Is A Gorilla?
Gorillas are extremely powerful animals. Although it is hard to measure how strong a gorilla is but it can be 4x to 10x stronger than the average human. Silverback gorillas are the most powerful among all and stronger than 20 adult humans combined!
A silverback gorilla can easily lift 4000 pounds or 1810 kg weight whereas a trained man can only lift up to 885 pounds or 401.5 kg. Research shows that a gorilla can lift up to 27 times heavy products than their body weight.
A gorilla can easily tear down a banana tree without applying too much effort. They have escaped from cages by bending the iron bars many times. Their bite force is around 1300 PSI(per square inch).
Why Are Gorillas Endangered?
Western lowland gorillas are most populated among four subspecies. Their population is estimated at 100000 to 200000 but due to their dense and remote habitat exact figure is unknown. Mountain gorillas populations are decreasing too. Although they have not disappeared entirely but due to uncontrolled hunting, disease, habitat loss, and ravage of human conflict they are considered endangered now.
How Much Long A Gorilla Can Be?
Adult western lowland male gorillas’ body length can be 1.7 meters or 66.9 inches and adult female’s body length can be 1.5 meters or 59.1 inches.
When standing upright, an adult male gorilla can be 1.4 meters to 1.8 meters or 4 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall but when the arm stretches then the measurement is 2.3 meters to 2.6 meters or 7 feet 7 inches to 8 feet 6 inches.
Adult females are shorter and can be 1.25 meters to 1.5 meters or 4 feet 1 inch to 4 feet 11 inches tall.
How Much Does A Gorilla Cost?
The price for a gorilla in zoos is around $100000 to $200000. And you can get a baby gorilla within $15000 to $40000 or more.
How Fast Can A Gorilla Run?
Gorillas run faster and move very quickly for both short and long distances. On the rough terrain, they move faster. On Average, a gorilla can run up to 25 miles per hour or 40 km/h.
Are Gorillas Aggressive?
Like other wild animals, gorillas do get aggressive too. Although they get angry when they feel threatened or when a gorilla from another group tries to steal one of the females. They warn off intruders by making loud grunts and tearing down vegetation.
How Strong Is A Gorilla Compared To A Man?
Because of their great weight and muscular bodies gorillas can be 4 to 9 times stronger than an average human.
Do Gorillas Eat Meat?
Although gorillas maintain a vegetarian diet by eating steams, bamboo, shoots, fruits, etc. Western lowland gorillas eat termites and ants. Sometimes they break the termite nest to eat the larvae.
What Are Gorillas Afraid Of?
Gorillas are afraid of certain reptiles like chameleons and caterpillars. Also, they are afraid of water and will only cross streams if they can do without getting wet by crossing over fallen logs. They dislike rain too.
Fun facts:
>>Gorillas have long arms that are even longer than their legs and are used for “knuckle-walk”.
>>Some gorillas in captivity learn to use sign language to contact the humans!
>>Gorillas live in a small group that is known as troops or bands and led by a dominant male Silverback!
>>Mountain gorillas spend around a quarter of their day eating!
>>Gorillas have 16 different types of calls!
>>Gorillas are one of our closest living relatives by sharing 98% of our DNA.
>>Gorillas display emotions like grief and compassion for other primates like a human.
