WHershelmanB4

Gorilla Gorillas are the largest living primates. Gorillas live in tropical or subtropical forests. Although their range covers a small percentage of Africa, gorillas cover a wide range of elevations. Lowland Gorillas live in dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes as low as sea level.

The closest relatives of gorillas are chimpanzees and humans, from which gorillas diverged about 7 million years ago. Human genes differ only 1.6% on average from their corresponding gorilla genes in their sequence, but there is further difference in how many copies each gene has.Until recently there was considered to be a single gorilla species, with three subspecies: the Western Lowland Gorilla, the Eastern Lowland Gorilla and the Mountain Gorilla. A silverback is an adult male gorilla, typically more than 12 years of age and named for the distinctive patch of silver hair on his back. A silverback gorilla has large canine teeth that come with maturity. Black backs are sexually mature males of up to 11 years of age. Gorillas are [|herbivores], eating fruits, leaves, and shoots. Further they are classified as [|foliovores]. Much like other animals that feed on plants and shoots, they sometimes ingest small insects also. Gorillas spend most of the day eating. is 8½ months. There are typically 3 to 4 years between births. Infants stay with their mothers for 3–4 years. Females mature at 10–12 years (earlier in captivity); males at 11–13 years. Lifespan is between 30–50 years, although there have been exceptions.

The **Mountain Gorilla** (//Gorilla beringei beringei//[|[2]]) is one of the two [|subspecies] of the [|Eastern Gorilla]. There are two populations. One is found in the [|Virunga volcanic mountains] of [|Central Africa], within 3 [|national parks]: [|Mgahinga], in south-west [|Uganda]; [|Volcanoes], in north-west [|Rwanda]; and [|Virunga] in the eastern [|Democratic Republic of Congo] (DRC). The other is found in Uganda's [|Bwindi Impenetrable National Park]. Some say that the [|Bwindi population] in Uganda is a 3rd subspecies, though no description has been finished.



The Mountain Gorilla has longer and darker hair than other gorilla species, allowing it to live in hot or cold weather and travel into areas where temperatures drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius).[//[|citation needed]//] It has chosen a life on the ground more than any other non-[|human] [|primate], and its feet most resemble those of humans. Gorillas can be identified by nose prints unique to each individual.[//[|citation needed]//] Males usually weigh twice as much as the females, and this subspecies is on average the largest of all gorillas.[|[3]] Adult males have more pronounced bony crests on the top and back of their skulls, giving their heads a more conical shape. These crests anchor the powerful [|masseter muscles], which attach to the lower jaw, or mandible. Adult females also have these crests, but they are less pronounced.