Gorillas are one of the famous and greatest apes in the world and in Africa, gorillas can be located in Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameron, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and a few other countries. They live in mountains, rivers and lowland areas and they share 98% blood DNA with humans, just like the other human’s closes relatives, chimpanzees.
The gorillas normally feed on foliage such as shoots, leaves, grass and fruits. They live on the ground, unlike the chimpanzees and baboons which prefer up in trees. Gorillas rarely drink water since most of their food contain much quantities of water.
Gorilla lives in groups known as troops / family / group and each family is headed by lead silverback which is the alpha male. The silverback exercises its duties such as guarding the group against enemies, leading the family to where food is and mating other female gorillas. The name silverback comes at a mature stage when a male gorilla’s back hair turns silver – greyish.
Like human beings, young male gorillas also get misunderstandings with their leaders to form their own families and attract a few loyal female gorillas and black backs to join them. Each group is comprised of 2 to 30 members. Surprisingly, with eastern low land gorillas when the leader dies, old females and infants disperse to find other groups to protect them. In the case of mountain gorillas, the eldest black back takes over after the death of a lead silverback.
Gorillas are now the largest living apes in the world and there are only two known species of gorillas – Eastern and western gorillas. These differ in many ways – including nostril, fur and body size. Furthermore, western gorillas are divided into the cross river gorillas and Western lowland gorillas. The Eastern gorillas are also divided into two sub categories – mountain gorillas and Eastern lowland gorillas.
So in total, there are four known subspecies of gorillas and these include;
Mountain gorillas.
As the name suggests, this category of gorillas live in mountains that are covered by lush forests. In the whole world, mountain gorillas can be found near the Virunga massif that span the countries of Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo. National parks that host mountain gorillas include Bwindi and Mgahinga gorilla national parks in Uganda, Volcanoes in national park in Rwanda and Virunga national park in D. R. Congo.
Mountain gorillas live at an altitude of 1,000 to 4,000 meters above sea level and they withstand the cold due to their thick and long fur. These are also known to be the second endangered type of gorillas, because their habitats are always threatened by human activities like encroachment and poaching.
Eastern low land gorillas.
Also called Grauer’s gorillas, they can be found in D.R Congo’s Kahuzi-biega national park, south Kivu region. This is the largest subspecies of gorillas and they live in both low land and mountain areas. They have shorter brown hair compared to mountain gorillas. They are also peaceful and calm compared to mountain gorillas.
Cross River gorillas.
These were listed as endangered species in 2006. These gorillas can be found in the forested mountains of Cameroon and Nigeria, weighing up to 200 kilograms and 5ft tall while standing. Research indicated that the population of these gorillas now stands at 350 individuals worldwide which proves how prone they are to human disturbance like poaching and habitat encroachment.
These gorillas are more aggressive and difficult to study since they are not used to human presence. Therefore, it’s not possible to visit this species of gorillas in either Cameroon or Nigeria.
Western low land gorillas live in Central and West Africa in countries like Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameron, DR Congo and the Central African Republic. They are the most common species of gorillas and dwell in Africa’s largest forest.
They are also the smallest in size and their population goes up to over 350,000 individuals that are in the wild and also some can be found in zoos.
