Visitors interested in trekking mountain gorillas must book their gorilla trekking permits at least 6 months in advance. Gorilla trekking activities are best done in countries like Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Gorilla trekking tours in Africa offer visitors with an opportunity to see gorillas in their natural habitats. Their diet also consists of insects, snails and ants thus making them partially omnivorous mammals. Mountain gorillas can eat half of their body weight, which is about 50 pounds of leafy foods per day. Their diet mainly comprises plant stems, leaves, fruits, flowers and bamboo shoots. Gorillas are majorly herbivorous animals. Male gorillas sexually mature at a later age as compared to the females. Female gorillas have a gestation period of 8½ months. Mountain gorillas also mourn the loss of member, and can be seen gathering around the corpse of a dead gorilla.Ī female mountain gorilla often gives birth to one baby every 4-6 years, and only three or four babies over her entire lifetime. This affects their normal feeding routine, as it becomes difficult for the gorilla to eat at the normal pace like the others. Just like humans, mountain gorillas also suffer from loss of teeth at an old age. Gorillas can also acquire diseases similar to those that affect human beings such as flu, cough, Ebola as well as Arthritis, which affects their joints, fingers, hands and feet.

They are social apes and live in groups/families of about 5 to 30 members. They are our closest relatives after chimpanzees and bonobos. Gorillas are also intelligent creatures and share about 98% of their DNA with humans. How closely related are gorillas to humans? Gorillas are so strong, with silverbacks capable of lifting heavy weights of up to 815 kilograms. In captivity, male gorillas can weigh up to 310 kg, which is about 683 pounds. The heaviest gorilla ever recorded was a silverback that was shot dead in Ambam, Cameroon and weighed 267 kg (about 589 pounds). Wild male gorillas can weigh between 136 to 195 kg (300 to 430 pounds), while female gorillas can weigh about half as much as adult males at 68 to 113 kg (150 to 250 pounds).

However the gorilla died in May 1938 after being shot by poachers in Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Īdult male gorillas on average can weigh up to 440 pounds, about 198-200 kg. The tallest gorilla recorded was a silverback in Alimbongo in northern Kivu and it measured at 1.95 meters in height with an arm span of 2.7 meters, a chest of 1.98 meters, and weighed 219 kilograms. Silverback mountain gorillas can measure up to 1.52 meters tall, although some can grow to about 2.25 meters tall. They have an arm span that stretches from 2.3 to 2.6 meters while female gorillas have smaller arm spans.Īdult female gorillas are shorter than the males reaching an average height of 1.25 to 1.5 meters tall. Adult male gorillas have an average height of 1.4 to 1.8 meters, which is about 4 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall.

Adult male gorillas are called black backs. Mature male gorillas are known as Silverbacks because of the white hair on their back which develops around the age of 14 years. Currently, there are about 1000 mountain gorillas believed to be living in the wild today. Thanks to her conservation efforts, along with her research team at the Karisoke Research Institute in Volcanoes national park in Rwanda, the number of mountain gorillas started increasing gradually. It is not until the late 1980s that wildlife conservationists and primatologists like Dian Fossey started conservation and research projects on gorillas in East and Central Africa. The existence of these gorilla species was being threatened by a number of factors such as widespread poaching, habitat loss due to large-scale deforestation and encroachment on wetlands and forests to mention but a few. Mountain gorillas, which are listed as an endangered subspecies, can only be trekked in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Virunga National Park in Congo, and Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.īack in the 19 th Century, the number of mountain gorillas had greatly declined with the species almost becoming extinct. Gorillas are the largest living primates/apes in the world and they live in the tropical rain forests and montane forests in West, East and Central Africa. Gorillas are listed as an endangered species on the ICUN Red List, with some subspecies like the Cross River gorillas and the Eastern lowland gorilla being listed as critically endangered. How big and Strong is a gorilla? This is a question that is commonly asked by visitors looking to learn more or see gorillas in their natural habitat.

Biggest silverback gorilla