Wild Facts

Photo by Greg Hume (Wikimedia)

The last Wild Fact of the week is going to be about an amazing animal that many of you have probably seen wandering around the zoo. Yes, the Western Lowland Gorilla, which is a sub-species of the Western Gorilla, is the preferred species for zoos. Why? To be honest, I am not sure why there are 550 of them living in zoos throughout the world. Perhaps it has to do with their rainforest home being destroyed, so the zoos are the one place these animals are allowed to survive. Instead of visiting the zoo though, lets take a trip to their natural home located throughout several parts of western Africa including Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and surrounding areas.

Calm and Unaggressive

When you think of the term Gorilla, you probably think of an aggressive silverback (male) displaying their dominance by showing off how powerful they are. And these animals are quite strong according to John Aspinall (British Zoo owner), who claimed the Western Lowland Gorilla has the strength of 7 or 8 Olympic weight lifters. Sure this claim has not been verified but I think we can all agree that this particular ape is incredibly strong. While this aggressive display of power is an important aspect of the Gorilla behaviour, this particular sub-species is know to be quite calm and un-aggressive….unless they are disturbed. Basically, if you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. For the record, unless you have the strength of 9 or 10 Olympic weight lifters, I suggest you go out of your way not to disturb one of these creatures.

Photo by Fred Hsu (Wikimedia)

Breakfast of Champions

Like other Gorilla species, the Western Lowland variety has a dominant male that leads the troop in all of their activities such as sleeping, traveling and of course eating. Finding food shouldn’t be too hard for these animals as they tend to feed on vegetation such as Bamboo and have been known to occasionally feast on insects or small reptiles. It is funny how some of the most powerful animals in the world spend their time eating vegetation or incredibly small animals. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad these majestic creatures don’t have a taste for human meat but I am still amused by the picture in my mind of a large, powerful Gorilla eating a teeny-tiny insect. Unfortunately, if we don’t stop destroying their rainforest home, the Western Lowland Gorilla’s food selection will be determined by their caretakers in the zoo.

Photo by Julie Langford (Wikicommons)

It was freezing here today and a sure sign that winter has set in.  Therefore I am putting on my shorts and going somewhere hot today.  I am sure I will warm up while looking for the Cross River Gorilla in the jungles of Africa.   Fortunately, this trip make take quite a bit of time since there are only about 300 of these Gorilla’s left in the wild.  Unfortunately, there are only about 300 of these Gorilla’s left in the wild, which puts them  on IUCN’s 25 most endangered primates list. I will touch on their population status a little more towards the end of the article but first let’s get to Africa and learn about these beautiful beasts.

The Cross River Gorilla is a subspecies of the Western Gorilla and can be found hanging out in the tropical jungles of western and central Africa.  More specifically there are 11 locations around the border of Nigeria and Cameroon where you can hope to catch a glimpse of these disappearing apes.   Interestingly enough the Cross River Gorilla looks similar to the other Western Gorilla subspecies, the Western Lowland Gorilla.  There are some differences in skull and tooth dimensions which separates the two apart.  It is estimated that there are about 100 000 Lowland Gorilla’s still remaining in the wild.  Does anybody else wonder how two very similar species could have such drastic differences in population size?  Well, I guess we could always ask our neanderthal ancestors about this type of discrepancy.

Photo from Wikicommons

Watching the Cross River Gorilla dwindle in size is painful since they are practically family.  They belong to the Great Apes which is a group of animals that include Orangutans, Chimpanzees and of course Humans.  Since they are part of this special group they have developed a few handy adaptations including opposable thumbs. They also have their own reality shows such as Cross River Shore, Africa’s Next Top Model, Dancing with the Apes and of course Survivor – Africa, which is just pretty much every day for the remaining 300 Cross River Gorilla’s.

At one point in time it was believed that this particular Gorilla subspecies was actually extinct.  Luckily they were rediscovered in the 1980′s so what are the chances that an animal could go extinct twice?  Well, if illegal hunting  and the loss of habitat continues as it has been then they they may very well be voted off the continent.  Organizations such as the Wildlife Conservation Society and the WWF have programs supporting research as well as plans to prevent poaching.  I recommend clicking on their names to learn more about how you can help save this wonderful animal.  Please don’t let the last words the Cross River Gorilla hears be “The Tribe has Spoken”.

Enjoy the rest of your day folks!

Photograph by Michael Nichols

So, I am back from holidays and probably need another vacation to recover from the excitement over the last two weeks. Thanks to everyone who continued to read and comment on Wild Facts while I was off.  Your dedication and support is greatly appreciated.

Now that everything is back to normal, lets get onto Wild Fact #880 which will be about one of my favourite animals. The Mountain Gorilla is a large animal that can weigh between 100 to 200 kg (220-440 lbs). Believe it or not the gorilla is thought to be very intelligent, which has often been compared to dolphins and humans. Surprisingly the mountain gorilla is actually a calm, gentle, social and peaceful creature.  They are mainly vegetarians and if you were to watch their young you would think you were watching your kids play in the backyard.  There is a huge misconception of the gorilla standing tall and pounding his chest while roaring into the darkness of the forest.  The leader of the group, which is often a mature, strong male called a silverback, will portray this image while protecting their group.  As well, they will display this behaviour if they get excited but this reputation does not define all mountain gorillas. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t recommend going up and trying to pet a wild gorilla.  I am just saying that they are actually a very peaceful, social animal that needs to be respected and admired.

Unfortunately some people admire them too much and continue to poach them since they consider the silverback to be a trophy. Then there are the people that don’t care and simply destroy their habitat. For these reasons the mountain gorilla is considered to be endangered with only 600 to 800 of them remaining in the wild. The good news is that in 1991 a coalition called the International Gorilla Conservation Program (IGCP) was formed which assists in protecting these gorillas as well as their ever important habitat. It is believed that the population of gorillas is steady and may even be on the rise but as usual there is a constant battle between humans and animals. If you would like to help these majestic animals than I suggest checking out the following website:

http://www.awf.org/content/action/detail/4109

Well folks, it feels great to be back and writing some more Wild Facts.  I look forward to talking with you all tomorrow.

Have a great day!