What Do Gorillas Eat?

14.09.2023 Grady A. Lowry 0 Comments

How do gorillas get so big without meat?

Gorillas get big strong muscles because they make their own protein. Gorillas and other herbivores have a large gut which houses their extra long intestines. The long intestines give the cellulose in the plants a chance to break down and ferment.

What do gorillas like to eat the most?

Around 85% of their diet is made up of leaves, shoots and stems, but gorillas can also eat larvae, snails, ants, and even roots, barks and rotting wood (a good source of sodium/salt).

Do gorillas eat bananas?

Francis, Program Coordinator of our Children for Sustainable Conservation Program, shares four gorilla facts – During these difficult and uncertain times, it remains our top priority to protect gorillas and keep our team members safe. While we all adapt to these challenging new circumstances we asked Francis, Program Coordinator of our Children for Sustainable Conservation Program, to share some facts he uses to teach local children about gorillas. 1. Vocalizations Gorillas have a complex range of calls known as vocalizations that they use to communicate information. This includes calls of fear, alarm, distress and contentment. “Belch” vocalizations are considered most common and are used to describe the noise gorillas make when they are feeling happy and satisfied.

Gorillas also produce chuckle vocalizations when they are playing with other individuals in the group. Dian Fossey was the first researcher to describe and categorise these sounds.2. Food Gorillas spend a quarter of their day eating. An adult gorilla can eat around 30kg of vegetation in a single day, which is roughly the equivalent of 210 bananas.

However, contrary to popular belief, gorillas don’t eat bananas. Instead, they eat the leaves and pith of the banana plant. Gorillas are primarily herbivorous and eat a diet rich in herbs, leaves and seasonal fruit. These plants provide sufficient moisture so they do not need to drink much water.3.

Nose Prints Like fingerprints in humans, individual mountain gorillas can be identified by their nose prints.
Mountain gorillas have a unique set of wrinkles above their nose that differ in shape, size and depth.
Understanding these differences is an important part of monitoring and conserving gorilla populations.

Different bodily features are used in combination with nose prints to identify the other three subspecies of gorillas, as patterns are not as distinct between individuals 4. Family Groups Gorillas live in family groups typically ranging from 2 to 40 individuals.

The average group size generally consists of 10-12 members with one dominant silverback leader.
However, multiple silverbacks can exist in one group but there is a clear hierarchy and each member has a specific role.
The female gestation period lasts 8.5 months and generally one baby is born at a time.

Gorilla babies rely entirely on their mothers and are carried around on their backs for 2-3 years.

What fruit do gorillas eat?

Their preferred foods include fruits such as berries, bananas, and guavas. Additionally, gorillas enjoy pith, which is a tissue made from the stems of certain flowering plants. That said, stems and leaves from high-quality plants make up the majority of most gorillas’ diets.

Are gorillas friendly to humans?

Can Habituated Gorillas Become Dangerous? – Gorillas are perhaps one of the most misunderstood animals. Though they are often portrayed as dangerous and aggressive, the truth is that gorillas are gentle giants. They are shy and retiring by nature, and usually only become aggressive when they feel threatened.

In fact, wild gorillas are not nearly so dangerous as they are often made out to be.
The vast majority of incidents involving gorillas and humans have occurred in zoos or other captive settings, where the animals have been deprived of their natural habitats and social structures.
When gorillas are allowed to live in their natural environment, they pose very little threat to humans.

In fact, many gorillas have been successfully habituated to human presence, and can safely be observed in the wild. Gorilla habituation is a long and complex process, but it can result in gorillas that are friendly and used to human beings. Many countries with large gorilla populations, such as Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, offer habituated gorilla tracking experiences for visitors.

Will gorillas eat meat?

Gorillas stick to a mainly vegetarian diet, feeding on stems, bamboo shoots and fruits. Western lowland gorillas, however, also have an appetite for termites and ants, and break open termite nests to eat the larvae.

What do gorillas eat humans?

Will a Gorilla Eat a Human? – Humans are not eaten by gorillas. Why? Pure herbivores, these apes have no appetite for meat. Therefore, they do not consume the bodies of humans even when they assault or kill them. The main components of the gorilla’s food are tree stems, fruits, leaves, bamboo shoots, roots, and bark.

They have incisors and canines that allow them to rip and smash tough fruit shells and tree bark.
However, if they need to protect themselves, they might bite people or other animals with their teeth.
In addition, they display their canine teeth to predators if they feel threatened in order to scare them off.

However, this does not lessen their risk. It is better to save an attack victim from a gorilla than to let them suffer an unchecked attack, which could be fatal.

Are gorillas aggressive?

Why do Gorillas Charge? What to do when a Gorilla Charges or Attacks Gorilla trekking is one of the most exciting wildlife activities in Africa. Many travelers go to Africa with the sole intention of having a close encounter with the primates in the wild.

Do gorillas charge?
What can make a gorilla charge?
What should I do when a gorilla charges?

We will be answering these questions in this article but after some background information. Whether in captivity or in the wild, Gorillas are arguably the most peaceful of the great apes. They leave in close knit groups lead by a calm, charismatic and benevolent silverback.

Differences and confrontations between individuals occur but are quickly resolved under the watchful eyes of the mighty silverback. The females and all group members are loyal to the silverback. The same cannot be said of other larger apes like Chimpanzees. Chimp communities often have more individuals but with a lot of drama.

The dominant male chimp has less control of the group and cannot expect complete loyalty from each member of the group. Chimps are also more aggressive when compared to gorillas and have been known to attack humans (especially children moving alone). Like humans or other wild animals, gorillas do get aggressive.

However, they do so only when they feel threatened or when a silverback from another group attempts to steal one of the females.
Gorillas will first attempt to warn off an intruder by making loud grunts and tearing down vegetation.
A silverback will even stand upright on its rare legs and pound its chest as a show of power.

These actions show that it is ready to defend itself and his family against the particular threat (humans, other silverbacks, or leopards). One of the reasons why gorilla trekking is possible and so popular is because wild gorillas can be habituated. is a process of making wild gorillas comfortable with humans in their presence.

The process can take up to 3 years. During this time, researchers and experienced trackers identify a suitable gorilla group for habituation. They follow them gradually and consistently until the group ceases to see them as a threat. Once that is done, the researchers focus on gaining the trust of the dominant male.

It is important to gain the complete acceptance of the dominant silverback in order for other members of the group to do the same. Gorilla Trekking is only possible after completion of the habituation process. Note: Not all gorilla groups are habituated.

Are gorillas intelligent?

Intelligence – A female gorilla exhibiting tool use by using a tree trunk as a support whilst fishing herbs Gorillas are considered highly intelligent. A few individuals in captivity, such as Koko, have been taught a subset of sign language, Like the other great apes, gorillas can laugh, grieve, have “rich emotional lives”, develop strong family bonds, make and use tools, and think about the past and future.

Do gorillas eat pork?

Do Gorillas Eat Meat And Fish? – While science entirely agrees that gorillas are omnivores because they occasionally eat insects such as termites, gorillas do not eat meat or fish. Their strong bite force is for chomping down on some veggies – and a bit of fighting to protect themselves.

According to some research, the DNA of duikers and some monkeys was found in some gorillas’ faeces. While the faeces could have been contaminated, the possibility of meat consumption was not fully dismissed since the digestive system of a gorilla is capable of digesting meat. However, there isn’t enough data to support any of these theories and the research continues.

You can visit this journal article and follow the research.

Do gorillas eat pigs?

Mammal DNA in gorilla feces hints the big apes might eat meat after all. Like the vegetarian who can’t resist the occasional burger, the otherwise herbivorous gorilla might succumb to cravings for its evolutionary cousins, a new study hints. While some zoo specimens are known to eat meat, wild gorillas eat only plants and fruit, along with the odd insect—as far as scientists know (see video of wild gorillas feasting on figs ).

But a recent study found DNA from monkeys and small forest antelopes called duikers in the feces of wild African western lowland gorillas in Loango National Park in Gabon, The discovery raises the possibility that gorillas might have a secret meat habit—scavenging or hunting discretely. (See gorilla pictures,) Gorillas Eating Insects That Eat Mammals? There may well be more mundane explanations for the surprising finding—explanations that’d have to be ruled out before gorillas could be reclassified as meat-eaters, said study co-author Grit Schubert, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

For example, gorillas are known to eat ants that scavenge the carcasses and bones of monkeys and other mammals. When gorillas eat the ants, they may also be ingesting—and later expelling—the mammal DNA in the ants’ digestive tracts, the study authors speculate.

Another possibility is that the mammal DNA came from live monkeys or duikers that had been probing the gorilla feces for edible seeds or other leftover plant bits.
Or the mammals “might have just licked it, sniffed it, or peed on it,” Schubert said.
There’s plenty of opportunities” for adding mammal DNA to gorilla scat after the fact, Schubert said.

“I don’t really think they’re eating meat.” Gorillas Wouldn’t Be Alone in Eating Monkeys If gorillas do eat meat, they wouldn’t be the first great apes to do so. Chimpanzees and their bonobo cousins are known to hunt and eat other mammals, including monkeys.

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Can a gorilla swim?

Are gorillas afraid of water? Like the other apes and humans, gorillas cannot swim naturally, therefore they avoid large bodies of water and rivers. However, in zoos and sometimes even in the wild, young and adult animals like to play with water. In search of food they sometimes wade through swamps on two legs with the water reaching up to their waist.

If gorillas are surprised by a rain shower, they simply stay motionless and wait for the rain to finish. If there is a cave or a similar shelter close by, they will sit underneath, but they will never use large leaves or branches to cover themselves, which is what bonobos and orang-utans occasionally do.

: Are gorillas afraid of water?

Do gorillas eat cheese?

Wild gorillas do not consume animal products but do feed on insects, which make up a regular but relatively minor portion of the total diet.

What do gorillas like to drink?

Food Intake – An adult male gorilla may consume more than 18 kg (40 lbs.) of vegetation per day. Gorillas rarely drink in the wild because they consume succulent vegetation that is comprised of almost half water as well as morning dew.

Do gorillas eat carrots?

#GorillaStory: Morning Sickness and Eating for Two Western lowland gorilla Calaya recently entered her second trimester of pregnancy. On average, gorilla gestation lasts about eight-and-a-half months. Just like other members of the great ape family—including humans—gorillas experience weight gain, and some experience bouts of morning sickness.

Gorillas spend most of the day foraging, and keepers scatter a variety of vegetables (squash and carrots), leafy greens (romaine lettuce, bok choy and kale), browse (bamboo, Bradford pear or maple) and alfalfa hay about the enclosure for the apes to find and eat. Fruit is also on the menu; on any given day, the gorillas may receive bananas, mangoes, oranges or apples.

Grapes—Calaya’s favorite food—are largely reserved for training sessions as a reward for successfully completing a husbandry behavior. Finally, biscuits round out the apes’ diet and provide the extra fiber they need to aid digestion. “Before Calaya was pregnant and in the early weeks of pregnancy, she would devour every biscuit she had, and then she would hang around the other gorillas to try to snag some of theirs,” primate keeper Melba Brown recalls.

Then, suddenly, the gorilla’s appetite changed. The morning of Sept.5, Brown called Calaya to the mesh for her breakfast, but the mom-to-be was resting on a nest constructed out of hay and blankets, her arm draped over her eyes. The primate team was initially concerned by Calaya’s withdrawn behavior, and they kept a close eye on her throughout the day.

The following morning, Calaya was bright, alert and back to her normal self, according to Brown. However, there was one distinct difference. Great ape keepers noticed that Calaya had lost her appetite for biscuits. They quickly brainstormed ways to ensure that Calaya was getting adequate nutrition.

Soaking her fiber-filled treats in diluted pineapple, apple or grape juice encouraged her to eat more, and she has since returned to eating her normal portion.
Now that Calaya is eating for two, the Zoo’s nutritionist has increased her diet to accommodate her growing appetite,” says Brown.
Before she was pregnant, Calaya would eat her fruits and vegetables but leave some leafy greens.

These days, she eats all of the food she can get her hands on, even if it is someone else’s diet! Since September, she’s gained about 7 pounds, which is on par with what other gorilla moms have gained at this point in their pregnancy.” Preserving the positive relationship between Calaya and her keepers is essential as her pregnancy progresses.

I want Calaya to feel comfortable coming to me, even if she does not feel well. I work with her every day to maintain and build upon the trust she has placed in me as her keeper. I value my role as Calaya’s caretaker, and she responds well to a gentle touch. Pregnancy isn’t always an easy process, so I want to do everything that I can to help her feel at ease and confident as her delicate state progresses.” Follow the Zoo’s updates throughout Calaya’s pregnancy on, and with the hashtag #gorillastory.

: #GorillaStory: Morning Sickness and Eating for Two

Can you touch a gorilla?

Can you Touch a Gorilla? | Mountain Gorillas | Gorilla Trekking Tours Can you touch a gorilla? No! gorillas are wild animals, more then, the curious juveniles who are playful can come and play on you but do not get scared stay calm. As their mother and the dominant do keep an eye at them and are very protective.

How close can you get to gorillas? If you about to approach the gorilla family you are trekking, a guide will ask you to keep a safe distance of 7 meters away from the gorillas.
This helps to prevent the spreading of any human diseases to the gorillas.
Note, if a gorilla moves closer to your advice to stay still and let it pass by.

Is a gorilla’s human friendly? Yes! Generally, gorillas are known to be peaceful, gentle and friend primates and mere fact said to share 98% of their DNA with human beings. More so, Gorillas are social animals and can only became threatened towards human when they feel aggressed. Can you Touch a Gorilla? Why can’t you look a gorilla in the eye? It’s because if you attempt accidently to look directly into the eyes of gorillas, a gorilla might think that you’re an enemy who has come to disrupt the family or challenge the family.

How do you prepare for a gorilla trek?
You need to prepare correctly;
First relax as you empty yourself of expectations.
Focus on things that are in your power.
You need to do some physical exercise.
Pack your safari items early enough.
Carry enough mineral water bottles
Carry warm clothes that fits in cold areas
Since seeing gorillas requires one to hold valid permits, you’re advised to book it in advance through help of trust worth tour operator.
What is needed when you are with the mountain gorillas?
Keep your voices at low voice.
Stay in tight group when you are near the mountain gorillas.

Always keep a distance of 7 meters from the Mountain Gorillas. This is done because Mountain gorillas can be easily transmitted with human diseases.

Eating smoking, drinking is not allowed.
Do not touch the mountain gorillas.
There is maximum number of visitors allowed to visit the which is one hour.
Do not leave any rubbish in the park?
If you feel sick, you’re not allowed to trek mountain gorillas
What to do if you stare at a gorilla?
In case a gorilla charges at you, below are the things we must pardon on or do.
First study the gorilla’s behavior
Stay calm and do not react
Always be submissive and stay quiet
Crouch down and make yourself as small a target as possible.
Remain quiet until gorillas loses interest or till help comes.
Do you stand your ground against a gorilla?

Always crouch down, if a gorilla charges during, always stay calm, quiet, respectful and unaggressive by bending down. Lowering yourself to the ground and making yourself smaller than the silver. Can you Touch a Gorilla? Can I or human fight a gorilla? However, a human can fight a gorilla though the end of it would be bad at small extent. Just know gorillas are more powerful than we humans. And if you would want to know the most dangerous or worst animal in world, gorillas would be, so on visit you need to be very careful.

How strong is a gorilla punch? It is believed that a gorilla is strong enough to shatter your skull with one slam. It weights between 1300 to 2700 pounds of force. Note, gorillas have an average of 400 ibs, with a muscle mass density almost 4 times higher than the most heavily muscled powerful human you know.

Can you make friends with a gorilla? Yes! Before introducing a gorilla family to the public, they first train them and they get very close to humans, like Dian Fossey who did a great work on gorilla, she used to live with them and had this say that ‘’ I feel more comfortable being with gorillas than being around people”.

What is a gorilla afraid of? They are afraid of reptiles such as chameleon and caterpillars.
Also are afraid of water and its such had time to cross over fallen logs and dislike rain.
Can gorillas swim? Like any other apes and humans.
Gorillas cannot swim naturally, that’s why they avoid large bodies of water and rivers.

But to those in zoo, for them like to play with water. How fast can gorillas run? Eastern gorillas which are comprised of can run up to 40kilometers and western gorillas run up to 40 km/h. : Can you Touch a Gorilla? | Mountain Gorillas | Gorilla Trekking Tours

Are gorillas stronger than lions?

Gorilla vs. Lion: Offensive Powers – The gorilla’s attacking capabilities are significant. They are thought to be ten times stronger than the lion, and they’ll utilize every bit of that strength to slap, toss, and leap at their foes. They are capable of biting and tearing their enemies. Lions also possess a great deal of power.

Would a gorilla save a human?

The Ellen Fund’s founding focus was solely on helping the wild mountain gorillas — and now also supports their close relatives, Grauer’s gorillas (more below). But why gorillas?, you might ask. Well perhaps Ellen said it best: “Gorillas are amazing animals.

I found out that gorillas and humans share 98 percent of the same DNA. (Isn’t that amazing? I’m pretty sure I have cousins who I share less DNA with.) “Gorillas are also highly intelligent. They can learn sign language and know the meaning of more than 2,000 words. I didn’t even know there were 2,000 words.

“They live with their families, one of them is the leader and is in charge of up to 30 family members. They’re fascinated by their reflections and spend most of the day grooming each other. They’re basically the Kardashians of the animal kingdom. “And they are powerful. On average, gorillas are 6 times stronger than a human. That’s like the strength of 40 David Spades. “But the thing that’s most amazing about gorillas is how compassionate they are. This is true. Gorillas will go out of their way to protect humans.

With a little more than 1,000 mountain gorillas remaining in our planet, this is the only great ape in the world whose population is rising.
These knuckle-walkers are the world’s largest living primates.
All gorillas are an important part of the forest ecosystem, as they trim plants while they eat and constantly spread seeds around the forest.
Did you know that African great apes–-that is the gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos–-are human’s closest living relatives? We are all part the same superfamily, the Hominidae.
Like humans, gorillas can’t naturally swim, they have 10 fingers, 32 teeth, forward-looking eyes and sharp color vision.
From habitat destruction to poaching and diseases, humans are gorillas biggest threat.
Humans are the only ape species that is not threatened by extinction.
Did you know we share 98% of our DNA and have the same blood type as gorillas?
Wild gorillas live about 35 years.
There are no mountain gorillas known to exist in captivity. For reasons we don’t fully understand, mountain gorillas don’t survive in captivity (although other subspecies, like lowland gorillas, do).
From screams, grunts, roars and growls.mountain gorillas use more than 20 different sounds to communicate.
Mountain gorillas get visits from the doctor too! When a gorilla is spotted with signs of illness or injury, veterinarians can use medicines and vaccines that are administered using dart guns.
The main structural difference between apes and monkeys is that apes don’t have tails.

Founded to protect the gorillas, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda was the first National Park ever created in Africa.
Mountain gorillas usually stay at an elevation of approximately 7,000 to 14,000 feet in the mountains of central Africa.
Virunga National Park, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, in Uganda, are both World Heritage Sites and home to half of the world’s mountain gorillas.
Gorilla tourism contributes significantly to gorilla conservation, as funds create jobs and bring benefits to local communities that live near gorillas. So, when you plan your next trip, don’t forget to visit the gorillas!

Adult mountain gorillas can feast on 50 pounds of mainly leaves, roots, and stems every day, which weighs the equivalent to 40 basketballs. No wonder it takes them half their day to eat!
Even though gorillas eat more than any other ape and have big round bellies, they are not fat. They have long intestines to process the large amounts of food they have to eat every day to get enough nutrients.
Gorillas are nomads and can travel up to 1,000 meters a day in search of food. However, mountain gorillas travel much less than their cousins, the Lowland gorillas, for they don’t have to travel far to get a meal, they are surrounded by food in their habitat.
While mountain gorillas are mainly herbivores, they occasionally snack on fruits and insects, especially ants and larvae.
Eastern Lowland gorillas eat more fruit than their cousin, the mountain gorilla. Both gorillas are a subspecies of the Eastern gorilla.

Even though most primates have a tree-living way of life, gorillas are terrestrial creatures that spend 95% of their time on the ground and occasionally climb trees for fun just like us.
Mountain gorillas like fresh beds! Every night each gorilla builds its own nest, except for baby gorillas, who sleep with their mothers until they’re about three.
Gorillas live in family groups made up of 2 to 40 gorillas. Each group has one dominant male called a silverback who protects the troop, defines the group’s territory and routines, and has breeding rights to all adult females in the family.
Once male gorillas reach sexual maturity, and the hair across their shoulders and down their back becomes greyish, they can fight other silverbacks to become the troop’s leader.
While mountain gorillas weigh less than five pounds when they are born, female gorillas can reach up to 200 pounds and silverbacks up to 450 pounds!
Adult female mountain gorillas give birth to one baby every three to five years. And while twin gorillas are rare, a few twin babies have been spotted in the wild and in captivity.

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The thing that’s most amazing about gorillas is how compassionate they are. This is true. Gorillas will go out of their way to protect humans. There are cases where gorillas stop humans from walking into poacher’s traps. That’s how compassionate they are. Meanwhile, there are a lot of humans who honk their horns the second the light turns green. \n “,”url”:”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnk6PTsZNo”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CWnk6PTsZNo/hqdefault.jpg”,”resolvedBy”:”youtube”}” data-block-type=”32″ id=”block-b801fb604335fb7b9c75″> Step into Rwanda’s beautiful Volcanoes National Park, where a community is uniting on the front lines of a region in crisis to protect endangered mountain gorillas. Sir David Attenborough takes you through Dian Fossey’s journey of setting up the Karisoke Research Center in the park, where nearly a quarter of the world’s 1000 gorillas remain. \n “,”url”:”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6xWTyVPnho”,”height”:480,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U6xWTyVPnho/hqdefault.jpg”,”resolvedBy”:”youtube”}” data-block-type=”32″ id=”block-3b130c120f4ddf6b1faf”> Sigourney Weaver played iconic conservationist Dian Fossey in “Gorillas in the Mist,” and now that Ellen is preparing to build a research center for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the actress gave Ellen a few tips on how to talk to the majestic creatures. \n “,”url”:”https://youtu.be/wpWoG1VAXio”,”height”:480,”thumbnailUrl”:”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wpWoG1VAXio/hqdefault.jpg”,”resolvedBy”:”youtube”}” data-block-type=”32″ id=”block-9cd373d414b0291588e8″> Ellen went on her dream vacation to Rwanda, where she’s building a campus for mountain gorillas. Watch as she and Portia hike the jungle to meet these incredible creatures. The Ellen Fund’s first project was to secure a future for wild mountain gorillas by supporting a science and education campus for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. With the release of Endangered in 2021 – a conservation documentary produced and narrated by Ellen – we also expanded to support Grauer’s gorillas! ABOUT GRAUER’S GORILLAS: The Grauer’s gorilla (sometimes called Eastern Lowland gorilla), is perhaps the largest of the four subspecies of gorilla (although recent info says they may actually be tied for largest with mountain gorillas).

With large hands, a stocky body, and a short muzzle, this critically endangered species resides in the eastern tropical rainforests of Congo and contributes significantly to the diversity and well-being of these areas.
STATUS: Civil unrest, habitat loss, illegal mining, and lack of protection have drastically reduced the Grauer’s gorilla population by more than 80% in just 20 years,

Today, an estimated 3,800 of these gorillas remain in the wild. HOPE: Protecting Grauer’s gorillas in a country in turmoil is a challenging feat. Even protected areas like Kahuzi-Biega National Park are not 100% safe from poachers, but organizations including the Fossey Fund are stepping in to help reestablish control over these lands. LM Images Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Did you know?

In partnership with the Dian Fossey Fund, The Ellen DeGeneres Campus in Rwanda will support the conservation of both Grauer’s and Mountain gorillas,
The Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) can only be found in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
The Grauer’s gorilla is perhaps the largest primate in the world.
Gorillas are typically docile creatures who spend most of their days resting, feeding, and socializing.what a life!
Knuckle-walking is when Grauer’s gorillas curve their fingers inward and support their body weight on their knuckles when they walk.
Thanks to their frugivorous diet (feeding on fruit) and the distances that they travel, Grauer’s gorillas add to the plant diversity of the forest by acting as seed dispersers,

Why do gorillas beat their chest?

Why do gorillas beat their chests? New research gives insight into behaviour of silverbacks

When gorillas beat their chests they show how big their body is, assess the fighting ability of rivals and attract mates, according to new research.
The sounds the beating makes may also allow individual gorillas to be identified across dense forests, researchers in Germany have found.
They say the audio frequencies of the chest beats made by larger males are significantly lower than those made by smaller males, therefore giving clues about body size.
Author Edward Wright and his team recorded 25 wild adult male silverback gorillas at Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
Chest beats were subsequently analysed according to duration, number, and audio frequency.

Image: Beating chests may allow gorillas to be identified across dense forests. File pic

It was found that the chest beats of larger males had lower peak frequencies than smaller ones.
Larger males may have bigger air sacs near their voice box, it is believed, which could be lowering the frequencies of sounds they produce while beating their chests.
The experts also observed variations in the duration and number of chest beats made by different gorillas regardless of body size.
Mr Wright, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, said: “The gorilla chest beat is one of those iconic sounds from the animal kingdom, so it is great that we have been able to show that body size is encoded in these spectacular displays.”
He added: “This hints at the possibility that chest beats may have individual signatures, but further study is needed to test this.”
Female gorillas are likely to use the information to find potential mates, it is thought.

: Why do gorillas beat their chests? New research gives insight into behaviour of silverbacks

Can gorillas drink milk?

Extra Facts –

A gorilla is a mammal. Mammals like gorillas do not lay eggs. Gorillas need milk from their mommy to drink when they are babies.

Why are gorillas so strong?

Much of a gorilla’s strength can be attributed to its large body size. Wild male gorillas weigh between 300 and 500 pounds on average, and females weigh between 150 and 250 pounds. The large difference in size between males and females is an example of sexual dimorphism.

How do gorillas get protein without meat?

What Can the Diet of Gorillas Tell Us About a Healthy Diet for Humans? One of the arguments proffered by vegetarians is that our primate ancestors were vegetarians and, to be healthy, we should eat the same kind of diet. An article entitled “The Western Lowland Gorilla Diet Has Implications For the Health of Humans and Other Hominids,” which appeared in a recent issue of Human and Clinical Nutrition, makes this argument.

With reference to the authors’ study of the vegetarian diet of gorillas, the research is sound, but to claim that humans would be better off with a vegetarian diet like that of the gorillas is spurious and equivocal. One misconception about the gorilla diet is that it contains no animal products. On the contrary, all of the great ape groups take in some animal protein, whether overtly or inadvertently, by consuming insects, insect eggs and the larvae that nest on the plants and fruits they eat.

In her pioneering work on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall discovered to her amazement, and to the amazement of the rest of the world, that chimpanzees kill and eat monkeys and make a tool to extract termites from their hills (homes), and that they went to considerable effort to obtain these foods.

It is also significant that meat is the only food they share with other chimpanzees.
All monkeys, lemurs and apes are classified as vegetarians and/or fruitivors, but they consume a small amount of animal protein by unconsciously eating the small insects, their eggs and larvae on the plant foods they select to eat.

The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. tried to breed the near extinct fruitivorian South American golden marmoset in captivity with no result, but when a little animal protein was added to their diet, they began to breed, which proves that they require a small amount of animal protein to be healthy and reproduce.

With the exception of humans, the native habitat of all the primates is in the tropics.
By contrast, for thousands of years, humans have inhabited all the land masses of the world, except for Anarctica.
The first humans, the Australopithicines, circa 2 million years ago, were omnivorous.
Recently, some researchers, in examining their fossil teeth, have claimed that the Australopithicines were vegetarians; but the evidence indicates they were omnivorous.

It is clear that by the time “humans” evolved, from Homo erectus through to what is now considered “modern” humans, such as Cro-Magnon man, humans were primarily meat eaters. According to J. Brownoski, ( The Ascent of Man ), it was meat-eating that led to the rise of modern man.

Homo erectus invented stone tools for hunting big game which led to the invention of more advanced stone tools by Cro-Magnon to modern humans. It was the quest for meat that led Homo sapiens to colonize the world. They followed the herds of animals. When overpopulation caused the animal food supply to dwindle, many moved on, from tropical Africa to North Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia.

They walked and adapted to the cold climates and were able to do so because meat is compact energy, and one kill of a mammoth or other big game could feed many people and lasted for a long period of time; whereas gathering plants and fruits to eat was seasonal.

Until the early part of the 20th century there were peoples who lived almost entirely on animal food.
For example, the Eskimos of North America and Lapps of Scandinavia lived almost entirely on animal protein and were very healthy.
However, when we refer to meat, remember that meat entails fats which are necessary for sound health.

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The protein and minerals in the meat cannot be utilized without the nutrients in the fat. Both Steffanson and Brody, who spent time with the Eskimos and Indians of North America, reported that these people saved the fat from game animals and always ate their meat with fat.

The Eskimos ate raw meat, which is very healthy, but there is a caveat for modern society: fresh meat often contains bacteria and parasites that can cause illness, and even death, therefore it is recommended by the government that all meat should be cooked well enough to kill all such pollutants. Humans only turned to plant foods as major food sources when, due to the ever-increasing human population, herds of animals became scarce.

They learned to domesticate some animals and invented agriculture. Humans learned to use fire, to any extent, in the Paleolithic age. Cooking certainly was necessary, because grains cannot be eaten raw. It is also interesting to note that when humans began eating a diet high in grains, the incidence of tooth decay increased considerably.

Tooth decay increased dramatically when refined grains (wheat and rice) became staple diets for a large percentage of the world’s population.
For normal growth and sound health throughout life, the human species requires eight amino acids which their bodies cannot manufacture, vitamin B 12 and some essential minerals.

The only viable source of these amino acids and of vitamin B 12 is animal protein such as red meat, fish, shell fish, eggs, milk, insects and worms. The lack of these amino acids results in serious illnesses. For example, kwashiorkor is a deficiency disease which impedes the normal development of vital brain cells and stunts growth.

People may be getting all they need to eat to satisfy their hunger from grains and other plant foods. They may even become plump on a diet of grains, but their normal growth and development is stunted. For instance, some Maya Indian peasant groups of Guatemala primarily have only corn, beans and squash to eat.

They like meat, but are too poor to purchase meats or raise animals. Feeding domesticated animals would sacrifice land needed to grow the grains on which they subsist. This condition is common over much of the world. Unlike humans, the digestive tract of gorillas is equipped to manufacture the essential amino acids and other vital nutrients.

The human digestive system is not so equipped and we must rely on animal proteins. It is interesting to note that advocates of vegetarian diets who use the diet of apes as a rational to support their food choice–asserting that the ape diet is more “natural”–fail to advocate eating a diet of all-raw plant foods as the apes do.

The basic plant foods that humans eat must be cooked. Vegan advocates also say that by combining grains with legumes, one can get the essential amino acids. Though this may be theoretically possible, in practice it is not viable and extremely difficult or impossible to accomplish, particularly if robust health is to be achieved and maintained generation after generation.

Of course, due to modern technology, many of the essential nutrients can be supplied by synthetic or processed products, but these merely duplicate what is naturally in animal protein and are often extracted from them. To be on the safe side, it is wise to procure essential nutrients from their best source–animal protein.

Anthropologists have wondered why certain foods came to be prohibited by some religions. The anthropologist, Dr. Marvin Harris, in his two extremely readable, informative and enjoyable books, Cannibals and Kings and Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, shows that the prohibition of pigs (pork) by the Jewish religion and cows by the Hindu religion came about due to the ever-increasing pressure of population growth.

Pigs eat grain. It takes lots of land to grow grain for wheat which could feed more humans than it could feed pigs that require the grain to become meat on the human dinner-table. So wheat was in competition with pigs and the wheat won out when human referees decided wheat was more efficient in feeding the growing population.

So pork wasn’t worth the grain and was prohibited by the religious leaders as a strategy to feed the population more efficiently. Likewise, in India where beef was widely eaten at an earlier time in history, the Hindu religion prohibited it because the cow was more valuable for its milk and dung than as edible beef.

Milk from the cow provided animal protein and the dung provided fuel for the fires to cook food. Religious sanctions are a very powerful societal force of control. (In these books by Harris, only a few pages are devoted to this subject, but the books are highly recommended for gaining insight into human behavior.) In economically diverse societies where animal protein is scarce among the poorer classes and more abundant in the increasingly affluent sectors of society, it is interesting to note the differences in body height that seems to reflect the way people are forced to eat.

The less affluent sectors subsist primarily on grains and a few vegetables and lack the height that is found among the more affluent ruling classes. This situation can develop as a result of overpopulation because too many humans inhabiting in a region can deplete the carrying capacity of the land upon which the food is produced.

The ancient Maya of the Classical Period used the slash and burn strategy to create more arable land as their population outgrew the surrounding forest. In order to create fields in which to grow corn, squash, beans and chili peppers, forest land was cleared by the destructive method of cutting down trees and burning the debris.

This is a very brutal strategy within a fragile ecosystem that rapidly exhausts the soil. The Mayan diet consisted chiefly of the vegetables they grew, a few fruits and game. But the game became scarce as the forest was cleared for farm land and only the tiny ruling class had access to animal protein.

(They had the domestic turkey and dog, but these animals ate the same food as humans.) This ecologically unstable situation led to the collapse of the Classical Maya civilization when they abandoned their great cities. The point for this article is that the skeletons unearthed from the Mayan burial grounds reveal that the ruling class was taller than the masses.

The nobility supplemented their basic diet of corn, beans and squash with what animal protein was available; whereas the masses had practically none. So what can the diet of gorillas tell us about what constitutes a healthy diet for humans? Little if anything.

Humans are omnivores and need animal protein as well as plant foods to maintain sound health. The author of this article and Dr. Melvin E. Page recommend, as presented in their book, Your Body is Your Best Doctor, the following as a sound diet to help maintain optimal health: Eat a variety of fresh animal protein and fats, a wide variety of fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts and whole grain breads and cereals.

For a complete bibliography on this subject, see “The Relevance of Paleolithic Diet in Determining Contemporary Nutritional Needs,” H. Leon Abrams, Jr. The Journal of Applied Nutrition, Vol.31, Numbers 1 and 2. Editor’s Note: Many practitioners still recommend the use of raw meat for its health-building properties, pointing out the careful handling and protective factors in the diet can minimize the risks of parasite and microbial infection.

Why do gorillas have fangs if they don’t eat meat?

Weird & Wild

We’re delving into the choppers of the animal world for Weird Animal Question of the Week. For Weird Animal Question of the Week, we’re sinking our teeth into two reader queries about animal choppers. First we have six-year-old Henry from Denver, Colorado, who asked: “Since gorillas are herbivores, why do they have such big teeth ?” First off, teeth aren’t just for chomping flesh.

Gorillas eat a lot of heavy twigs and bark, which requires tough teeth—particularly molars—to grind all that tough plant material, according to Peter Emily, founder of the Peter Emily International Veterinary Dental Foundation, The organization, based in Colorado, provides dental care for domestic and captive animals worldwide.

What about the gorilla’s long, sharp canines? They’re used for display, in particular “to defend against external threats, as well as fend off other male gorillas competing for dominance,” Kathy Garrigan, of the African Wildlife Foundation, said via email.

Emily notes that with the exception of humans, all primates have those long canines.
Read about how our teeth evolved,) Multi-Tusking Continuing the tooth trend, reader Danny Huynh wondered, “Why are elephant tusks hollow? ” Tusks may “look like canines that have become long,” but they’re actually the elephant ‘s incisors—the narrow teeth at the front of the mouth, Emily said.

And, like our own teeth, a tusk has a hollow chamber containing blood, nerve, and pulp tissue that keep the tooth nourished and strong. (Also see ” Elephants Use Their Trunks to Ace Intelligence Tests,”) A part of the tooth called the apex, which is located in the jawbone, “allows plenty of space for the pulp that lets the tooth grow,” Alexander M.

Reiter, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, said via email.
When an animal loses a tusk, “all the soft tissue inside of it will have disappeared, and then it appears as if the tooth has always been hollow.” Hippo Root Canal In his four decades of animal dentistry, Emily has seen some of the world’s weirdest choppers.

(Also see ” The Real Story of ‘The Incredible Dr. Pol,'”) “They are made the same—with enamel, dentine, and a ligament to support them inside the jawbone”—but the shape and size can vary wildly, he said. The wolf eel, for example, “has a whole row of teeth right in the roof of his mouth,” called palatal teeth, in addition to long canines.

Both types are ideal for crushing crabs and other crustaceans. (You can see a wolf eel’s upper jaw in this photo,) Emily hasn’t worked on a wolf eel, but “I’ve done root canals on hippos,” he said. It’s not easy: A normal dental drill won’t work on hippos’ large, round, ever-growing incisors, which means you “have to cut the nerve out with a scalpel.” Ortho-Beakics That’s all in a day’s work for Emily, who will even do dentistry on animals with no teeth.

Birds, for example, use their beaks for feeding and numerous other functions, and may have problems if a beak doesn’t fit together quite normally (think a human overbite). (See ” Rare ‘Smiling’ Bird Photographed in Colombia,”) Emily has made appliances to straighten the crooked beaks of birds, as well as prosthetics to repair broken beaks so they can function properly.

Why do gorillas not need meat?

Gorilla Digestive System – Gorillas and humans are genetically very similar, yet one major difference is the gorilla’s digestive system. Gorillas, like many large herbivores including elephants and rhinos, are ” hindgut digesters “. They have much longer intestines than carnivores or omnivores.

Why do gorillas have such large guts?

Shape – Gorillas have a distinctive shape in that their stomachs are larger than their chests. Their stomach size is attributed to their enlarged intestines, which digest the bulky fibrous vegetation they consume.

Grady A. Lowry