Mountain gorillas have very interesting fats like most the rest of other faunal species, gorillas do have distinct features worth sharing on actual gorilla trekking adventure. On African safari, gorillas are among the few most sought for creatures in the wild, and also considered to be closest living relatives to humans besides chimpanzees. Here are unique facts you need to discover about gorillas;
Gorillas are species into 2 groups
Gorillas exist only in 2 (two) species that is the Eastern and Western gorillas. Each of these species are further sub-divided to form 4 sub-species. They include the Eastern lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas which fall under the Eastern gorilla species. The western gorilla species are sub-divided into the Cross River and Western Lowland gorillas.
Social habits
Gorillas are social creatures. They spend most of their time in their families/groups. In each group, there is a mature or an adult male gorilla (silverback) that leads the rest of the family members. A single family can consist of about 30 members, each comprising of many females and infants.
Relationship with humans (gorillas are human-closest relatives)
Gorillas are large apes, gentle apes living in the African tropical forests. They share up to about 98% of their DNA with humans. They come after the bonobos and chimpanzees whose genetic code is very close to that of humans.
Muscular arms, longer than their legs (gorilla facts)
Gorillas are naturally powerful apes with a strong chest and shoulders. They feature large, human-like hands and poses muscularly longer arms than the legs.
Heavier and stronger than humans
Male gorillas are twice as heavy as females, and generally, gorillas are stronger than humans. A male gorilla weighs about 135 to 220kg and can stand upright about 1.7m, while the females weigh between 70 and 90kg then stand on ground at 1.5m tall.
Huge great apes
Gorillas fall in the list of the massive great apes and the rest include humans, bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans.
Life cycle
Female gorillas often become sexually mature at 7 to 8 years. At this stage, they can’t breed till after a few years and the male counterparts on the other hand won’t be sexually mature till they reach 15 years.
Gestation period
The female gorillas give birth to babies only once after every 4 years. Females take about 8.5 months and often, they give birth to only a single baby and on rare occasion to twins. In the entire lifetime, females can produce 3 to 4 babies. With the low reproduction rate, the recovery rate of the gorillas after decline is difficult.
Life expectancy
An average life expectancy of gorillas in the wild is from 35 to 40/50 years. Females exit the families at maturity and join other families or single male gorillas.
Different communication & sounds
Gorillas like chimps, have diverse ways of communication and each call has its own meaning. Gorillas hoot, bark, grunt and roar, each of these may mean peace or aggressiveness. They display different ways of communication for instance chest beating, vocal roars and other behaviors when aggressive. When aggressive, visitors are advised to observe the safety measures given by the park guide. They also different calls to let the rest of the members of areas with abundant forage where they can feed in the course of the day. When attacked by intruders, they use different vocal call to communicate to the rest of the members.
Diet
Gorillas’ diet is largely composed of vegetation. They feed on fruits, bamboo shoots, barks, stems and leaves, etc. Some gorilla sub-species like the Western lowland gorillas are renowned for their behavior of feeding on termites and while other sub-species feed on invertebrates.
Gorillas are forest dwellers
Gorilla habitat is largely the tropical rainforest. The Eastern lowland gorillas occupy parts of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and Maiko National Park in the D.R. Congo, while mountain gorillas live only in the following national parks –Bwindi Impenetrable National Park & Mgahinga Gorilla National Park –(Uganda), Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and still in the D.R. Congo, you can interact with mountain gorillas while in the Virunga National Park.
Majority of the western lowland gorillas reside within the rainforests in Western Africa including parts of Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon and more. Uganda, Rwanda and D.R. Congo are the leading when it comes to gorilla trekking experiences.
Walking style
Gorillas walk by use of 4 (four) limbs or by knuckling. They are also capable of standing upright.
Intelligent species
Gorillas are remarkably a few most intelligent creatures in the wild. They make the best use of sign language to interact with each other. They are also capable of using tools to extract material for instance tapping termites.
Distinct nose prints
Every single gorilla has a unique nose print and it is what differentiates them from each other.
Conservation efforts
The rare mountain gorillas, also the sub-species of the Eastern gorillas remain about 1063 individuals in the entire world.
Habitats
Gorillas in Africa reside in the different parks and if your interest lies in seeing mountain gorillas, there are only 4 parks to visit. They;
- Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (located in Southwestern Uganda) and areas of interest in for mountain gorillas include Ruhija, Buhoma, Nkuringo and Rushaga.
- Mgahinga Gorilla National Park (situated in Kisoro district) and tourists begin the trek to Mgahinga gorillas at Ntebeko area.
- Volcanoes National Park (lying in Ruhengeri and this is home to 12 habituated gorilla groups). Trekking with Volcanoes Park gorillas begins with at Kinigi and park guides will be present to accompany you on the entire gorilla trek.
- Virunga National Park –lying in Eastern side of the D.R. Congo, Virunga NP is home to a significant section of mountain gorillas with 8 habituated gorilla families.
- Kahuzi-Biega NP –expanding up to 6000sq.km, Kahuzi-Biega N/Park supports the rare Eastern lowland gorillas plus other primates and birds. Treks are carried out in already habituated five groups of Eastern lowland gorillas. Like gorilla treks in Uganda’s Mgahinga/Bwindi Park or Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP, gorilla adventures in Kahuzi-Biega are done with the lead of an experienced park guide.