WESTERN LOWLAND GORILLA

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION

COMMON NAME:	Western lowland gorilla
KINGDOM:	Animalia
PHYLUM:	Chordata
CLASS:	Mammalia
ORDER:	Primates
FAMILY:	Hominidae
GENUS SPECIES:	Gorilla gorilla gorilla (hairy human)

FAST FACTS

DESCRIPTION:	These great apes have black to grayish or reddish-brown hair that covers the body except on face, soles of hands and feet, and upper chest.
MALE	All males acquire a silver-gray color across the back and upper thighs at sexual maturity. Males have an enlarged sagittal crest, which is a bone ridge on the top of the cranium.

SIZE:
MALE	Up to 1.7 m (5.5 ft)
FEMALE	Up to 1.4 m (4.5 ft)

WEIGHT:
MALE	Up to 182 kg (400 lbs)
FEMALE	Up to 102 kg (225 lbs)

DIET:

More than 200 types of plants: fruits, stems, flowers, shoots, bulbs, bark, leaves, pith, as well as invertebrates such as termites and ants; seasonal frugivores.

GESTATION:	250-285 days
ESTRAL PERIOD	Cycles every 32 days

SEXUAL MATURITY:
MALE	11 years
FEMALE	6.5 years

LIFE SPAN:

40 years in zoological setting; wild studies of longevity have only been going on for 10 years, so far life span is inconclusive.

RANGE:

African countries of Cameroon, Peoples Republic of Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea

HABITAT:

Tropical forests, swamp forests, clearings and forest edges

POPULATION:

GLOBAL

Unknown

STATUS:	IUCN	Not listed
	CITES	Appendix I
	USFWS	Endangered