About

●They are the largest of the great apes.

●Five species of great apes are gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, bonobo, and human.

●They share 98.3% of their genetic code with humans, making them our closest cousins after chimpanzees and bonobos.

Species

●Gorillas have two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla.

●The mountain gorillas are  subspecies of the eastern gorilla.

Scientific Name

Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei

Diet

●Vegetarian( Frugivorous)

Distribution

●Gorillas are only found in tropical forests of the equatorial region in Africa.

●Eastern gorillas are found only in three countries- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Rwanda.

●Western gorillas are found in many countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, and the DRC.

Features:

●They are stocky animals with broad chests and shoulders, large, human-like hands, and small eyes set into hairless faces.

●Males are about twice as heavy as females.

Locomotion

●They walk about on all four limbs with part of their weight supported on the knuckles of their hands.

●This mode of locomotion is called knuckle-walking, and it is shared with chimpanzees.

Social Behaviour

●Gorillas are gentle giants and display many human-like behaviours and emotions, such as laughter and sadness.

●Gorillas live in family groups of usually five to 10, but sometimes two to more than 50, led by a dominant adult male—or silverback—who holds his position for years.

●Note: Males acquire silver-grey saddles across their backs and upper thighs at sexual maturity due to which they are named silverback.

●The groups are polygamous.

●The bond between the silverback and his females forms the basis of gorilla social life.

●They are diurnal i.e. active during the day and primarily terrestrial.

Reproduction

●Females become sexually mature around seven or eight years old but don’t begin to breed until a couple of years later.

●Males mature at an even greater age.

●Once a female begins to breed, she'll likely give birth to only one baby every four to six years and only three or four over her entire lifetime.

●This low rate of reproduction makes it difficult for gorillas to recover from population declines.

Conservation Status

●Due to an increase in its population in recent years, IUCN changed its conservation status from  Critically Endangered to Endangered in November 2018.

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.Consider the following statements regarding the Gorillas:

1. Gorillas are spread across tropical forests and temperate forests in the world.
2. They are the largest of the great apes.
3. They are Omnivorous in nature.

How many of the above statements is/are correct?

A. Only one

B. Only two

C. All Three

D. None

Answer: A

Explanation:

Statement 1 is incorrect:

●Gorillas are only found in tropical forests of the equatorial region in Africa.

●Eastern gorillas are found only in three countries- Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Rwanda.

●Western gorillas are found in many countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, and the DRC.

Statement 2 is correct:

●They are the largest of the great apes.

●Five species of great apes are gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, bonobo, and human.

●They share 98.3% of their genetic code with humans, making them our closest cousins after chimpanzees and bonobos.

Statement 3 is incorrect: They are frugivorous in nature.