Flash
23/9/24
World Gorilla Day
World Gorilla Day is celebrated on the 24th September every year. It is a day to raise awareness of these amazing creatures and the fact that they are incredibly endangered and also to encourage the continued conservation of gorillas to help protect them from extinction.
There are two species of gorilla. The Western Gorilla, which then has two sub-species, the Western Lowland Gorilla and the Cross River Gorilla. The Eastern Gorilla, which also has two sub-species, the Mountain Gorilla and the Eastern Lowland Gorilla.
All subspecies of gorillas are sadly endangered. The Western Lowland Gorilla and the Cross River Gorilla are critically endangered. The Mountain Gorilla and Eastern Lowland Gorilla are endangered. The Mountain Gorilla used to be critically endangered but numbers have been increasing due to conservation efforts.
Gorillas have become endangered for many different reasons, poaching (where humans hunt and sometimes kill the animal), habitat loss, disease and conflict between humans where they live are the main reasons. They are also slow to have babies, only having one baby at a time, where as some creatures will have many babies at a time. Like humans they also spend a long time caring for their baby before having another one.
Top 10 Gorilla Facts
1. Gorillas are the largest of the great apes, which also include humans, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans. They share 98% DNA with humans so are incredibly like us! Only chimpanzees and bonobos are more similar, sharing 99% of the same DNA!
2. Gorillas live in tropical rainforests in central Africa, near the west coast and towards the middle of the continent. There is about 600 miles between the two species of Western and Eastern Gorillas.
3. Gorillas are the largest living primates, Eastern Gorillas are larger than Western Gorillas. They have a large upper body, especially in males, long arms (longer than their legs), large human like hands and small eyes. They are covered in fur, apart from on their face, Eastern Gorillas are darker and have longer fur, and Western Gorillas have shorter fur that is more brown in colour and they are often red on their heads.
4. Male gorillas are much bigger than the females, and are about double the weight of females. Up to the age of about 12 they will have all black fur. After this they will develop white/silver fur on their back and be called silverbacks. On Western Gorillas this white fur carries on down their legs too, while on Eastern Gorillas it is a much smaller patch just on their backs. Males also have a bony crest on top of their head.
5. Gorillas live in family groups, called troops, with one male gorilla in charge. These groups are usually between 5 and 10 gorillas but can become quite big, with up to 50 gorillas in it.
6. Gorillas are omnivores but mainly live off a herbivore diet, preferring eating plants, such as stems, bamboo shoots, leaves and fruit. Some species also eat some small creatures such as insects.
7. Gorillas are gentle creatures, unless threatened. A male gorilla is about ten times stronger than a human male and has a bite stronger than a lion!
8. Gorillas are very clever and can learn how to use tools to help them. They have been seen using objects a bit like an umbrella to stay out of the rain, using sticks to eat with and measure how deep rivers are and bamboo to make ladders out of to help baby gorillas climb up. Some gorillas in zoos or safari parks have even been able to learn sign language to communicate with humans.
9. Gorillas have a variety of ways to communicate with each other, again often in a very similar way to humans. One of their favourite ways to express they are happy is by burping!
10. Despite being so big and looking quite intimidating gorillas are really quite gentle. Gorillas display emotions similar to humans, laughing and showing sympathy towards each other. They show they care for another gorilla by grooming them.
Want to find out more about Gorillas?
You can learn even more about these incredible primates on our Gorilla Topic Page and on another blog post – International Primate Day.
All photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots, Public Domain and Shutterstock Images.