Gorilla

Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus Gorilla is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five subspecies..

AThe gorilla is robust and powerful, with an extremely thick, strong chest and a protruding abdomen. Both skin and hair are black. The face has large nostrils, small ears, and prominent brow ridges. Adults have long, muscular arms that are 15–20 percent longer than the stocky legs. Males are about twice as heavy as females and may attain a height of about 1.7 metres (5.5 feet) and weight (in the wild) of 135–220 kg (300–485 pounds). Captive gorillas of both sexes may grow quite fat and hence become much heavier. A wild adult female typically is about 1.5 metres tall and weighs about 70–90 kg. Gorillas lack hair on the face, hands, and feet, and the chest of old males is bare. The hair of G. beringei beringei is longer than that of the other three subspecies. Adult males have a prominent crest on top of the skull and a “saddle” of gray or silver hairs on the lower part of the back—hence the term silverback, which is commonly used to refer to mature males. This saddle is much more conspicuous in eastern gorillas (G. beringei), which are jet black, than in western gorillas (G. gorilla), which are more of a deep gray-brown.

WHERE WILL YOU FIND THEM

You will find the Gorillas at pen E15, right next to the Lost Forest.