Western Lowland Gorilla
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Gorilla
The forest-dwelling western lowland gorilla is a gentle giant. It has suffered from generations of hunting, kidnapping, and habitat destruction, and its numbers are still in decline. The western lowland gorilla, in common with other gorillas, shares 98 percent of its genes with humans. Most people now realize that gorillas are peaceful creatures. Despite their huge size, they rarely act aggressively toward people. There are three subspecies of gorilla: the mountain gorilla and the eastern and western lowland gorillas. The mountain gorilla lives in eastern Africa; the western lowland form lives in the lowland tropical rain forests of West Africa from Cameroon to the Congo River, and the eastern form lives in the lowland tropical rain forests of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). All three populations face similar problems. It is impossible to estimate how many western lowland gorillas are left in the wild. Their dense rain forest habitats are some of the least explored areas of the world, and the terrain makes surveying difficult. Gorillas live in groups of adult males, females, juveniles, and infants. They are predominantly fruit eaters and need vast tracts of forest in order to find food.
The western lowland gorillas are constantly on the move, looking for trees with a ripe crop. An average troop needs a home range of between 10 and 15 square miles (25 and 40 sq. km) to ensure that they can always find food. The western lowland gorillas live in much smaller groups than their cousins in the east, where fruit is more abundant; a group of five to seven gorillas is less likely to exhaust the fruit supply of any tree than a group of 12 or 15. Like all great apes, lowland gorillas breed very slowly. A healthy female will produce between three and six babies in her lifetime. The young are so well cared for that they stand a good chance of surviving as long as the troop has plenty of space to forage for food and is not targeted by poachers. Despite their bulk and power, gorillas are peaceful creatures. Although people who have killed them often claim that they did so in self-defense, the animals are generally not agressive if left unprovoked. Even the intimidating chest-beating display of a dominant male is usually little more than a bluff.
Dwindling Habitat
Although the forests of central Africa are still vast, in the past few decades a dramatic increase in logging and clearing of trees for agriculture has greatly reduced and fragmented their extent, threatening the habitat needed by lowland gorillas. Humans have been farming in Africa for thousands of years, but this used to be done on a relatively small scale. The rapid rise in human populations over the last century has meant that more land is being used for settlement and agriculture than ever before. The devastation is worse in some countries than in others. For example, the western lowland gorilla had disappeared from Nigeria by 1984, while the relatively untouched forests of Gabon to the south still harbor around half the world’s gorilla population. Gabon is a small country, about the size of Ohio, but around 70 percent of it is still forested, providing ideal gorilla habitat. The Gabonese hunt more gorillas than anyone else; but as far as they are concerned, this great ape is still a reasonably abundant animal.
Illegal Trade
Gorillas are killed for several reasons. They are widely eaten as bush meat, and gorilla body parts are traded as souvenirs. Hundreds, possibly even thousands of gorilla babies have been taken from the wild to supply zoos and the pet trade. They are usually kept and transported in atrocious conditions, and at least two-thirds of them do not survive the journey. It is now illegal to export wild-caught gorillas, and today most zoos refuse to take them. Nevertheless, there is still a healthy black market in the young animals. Civil wars and political instability, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and parts of West Africa, have reduced the effectiveness of international legal protection. Such factors have also made it impossible to carry out surveys to find out how many western lowland gorillas remain in the wild. Even in “protected” areas the aorillas are not completely safe. It is thought that the Kahuzi-Biega National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo has recently lost half its gorillas as a result of poaching.
Western lowland gorilla
Gorilla gorilla gorilla
- family: Pongidae
- World population: Unknown; estimates vary from 10,000 to 50,000
- Breeding: Single young born after gestation of 7-8 months; dependent on mother until fully weaned at 3-4 years; mature at 7-9 years (females) and 9-12 years (males). Life span up to 37 years
- Distribution: West Africa, including parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Habitat: Lowland tropical rain forests
- Size: Height: up to 7 ft (2.1 m). Weight: 300-600 lb (135-275 kg)
- Form: Brownish-black fur; long, powerful arms; legs less powerful; broad chest; large head (wider than that of mountain gorilla); heavy brow ridge
- Related endangered species: Eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla graven) ; mountain gorilla (G. g. beringei); chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes); pygmy chimpanzee (P paniscus); orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus)
- Diet: Fruit, shoots, leaves, bark, roots, and bulbs
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