Details
Gorilla gorilla
One of the largest living primates, native to the rainforests of west-central Africa. A mature male develops a saddle of silvery-white hair across his back, becoming a silverback who leads a family group on a largely fruit-based plant diet.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Lives in the tropical forests of west-central Africa centred on the Congo Basin, ranging across Gabon, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic. It uses a wide range of forest, from lowland primary and secondary forest to swamp forest and coastal thicket.
It measures roughly 120-180 cm and weighs about 68-180 kg, with males much larger than females. The coat is black to dark grey or brown-grey with a brownish forehead, and is paler than that of eastern gorillas. A dominant male grows the silvery-white back that gives the silverback its name.
Active by day, it lives in family groups of about 2-20 led by a single silverback. Groups roam home ranges of up to 30 km2 and build fresh nests of branches and foliage on the ground or in trees each night; wild individuals have even been seen using tools.
A plant-eater that favours fruit above all, it also takes leaves, stems, pith, flowers and bark. When fruit is plentiful it feeds on it heavily, and it has been recorded eating more than ninety different plant species.
Females begin breeding at around 8-9 years and usually bear a single infant at a time. A mother cares for her young for three to four years, so surviving offspring arrive only once every six to eight years, making population growth slow.
The IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered. Poaching, habitat loss from commercial logging and civil conflict are major threats, and the Ebola virus has caused severe declines in some populations. In the wild it can live to about 40 years.
