What Is The Largest Species Of Gorillas?

What Is The Largest Species Of Gorillas? Gorillas are the biggest species of primates living in the subtropical and tropical rainforests of Africa.  Gorillas are dived into two species that is to say western gorillas and eastern gorillas. The eastern gorillas are further divided into mountain gorillas and eastern low land gorillas while the western gorillas are divided into cross-river mountain gorillas and western low land gorillas.

Gorillas are primarily herbivores animals with most of their diet comprising of fruits, bamboo shoots, stems, pith, bark, leaves, termites, ants, and on some occasions, they have been seen eating soils.

Gorillas fear chameleons and caterpillars for unknown reasons, the infant gorillas are always excited about any moving thing they will give away to caterpillars and chameleons. Gorillas don’t usually drink water because most of the foods they consume contain a lot of moisture.

What is the largest species of gorilla?

Eastern lowland gorilla

This species of gorilla inhabits the sub-tropical and tropical rainforests of the eastern part of the democratic republic congo. The population of the eastern low land gorilla was about 17,000 in the 1990s but there has been a decrease by over 50% in recent years with its range decreasing from over 8,000 square miles to about 5000 square miles today.

The main threat to the eastern low land gorilla population is habitat loss, disease, poaching, and civil unrest in Congo. Though the eastern low land gorilla is the biggest of the gorilla species it’s still on IUCN red list as an endangered species of gorillas

The eastern low land gorillas also called the Grauer’s gorilla are the largest living species of gorillas, these species of a gorilla are distinguished by their short muzzle, darker coloration, and stocky bodies. The silverback males can weigh up to 210 kgs and a female can weigh up to 100 kgs. Therefore, the eastern lowland gorilla is the Largest species of gorillas of all.

Western lowland gorillas

The western lowland gorillas are a sub-species of the western gorilla living in the dense forests of DR Congo, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Cameroon, and central Africa republic. The western lowland gorillas are the only subspecies of gorillas that can survive in the zoo and also, it’s the smallest subspecies of gorillas a male weighing 180kg and a female 84kg. the only albino gorilla ever recorded was a western lowland gorilla called snowflake from Equatorial Guinea.

Mountain gorillas

Mountain gorillas are subspecies of eastern lowland gorillas living in the tropical rain forests of volcanoes national park Rwanda, Virunga national park if DR Congo and Bwindi impenetrable forest as well as Mgahinga national park of Uganda. Mountain gorillas cannot survive in zoos. Bwindi impenetrable forest national park of Uganda is believed to have more than half of the mountain gorillas surviving in the world. On average an adult mountain gorilla weighs 160 kgs and an adult mountain gorilla weigh 98 kgs.

Cross River gorilla

The cross-river gorilla was named as a sub-species of western gorillas in 1904 by Paul Matschie, this sub-species of western gorillas inhabits the forested hills of Cameroon and Nigeria border region. This is the most endangered gorilla species with about 250 mature individuals left in the wilderness. Cross river gorillas weigh between 100 to 200 kgs