What an interesting gorilla type the western gorillas are!

Gorillas are large muscular primates that are known to inhabit the tropical rainforests of Africa. These large animals are herbivores and they are said to share almost 98% DNA of that of man after the chimpanzees and the bonobos.

Gorillas are divided into two major groups: the western gorillas and the Eastern gorillas. These are also subdivided into four other subspecies: the cross-river gorillas, western low land gorillas, the Eastern low land gorillas and the mountain gorillas.

The western gorillas are known to inhabit the tropical forests of Africa and in East Africa as well preferably in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to sources from international bodies that are responsible for the well-being of wildlife animals, it was discovered that there are over 125,000 gorilla species living in the Democratic Republic of Congo however, these lowland gorillas are up to date endangered making their numbers decline because of continued poaching, destruction of their habitats and diseases.

Since these animals are vegetarians, they normally like eating plants and fruits but occasionally feed on insects. Like any other animal, the western lowland gorillas spend much of their time dwelling on land and at times climb trees to pick ripe fruits and make their sleeping habitats.

Additionally, these animals don’t produce many offspring because a female gorilla starts producing when it is 9 or 10 years old and young ones stay with their mothers until the age of  5 years. Gorillas live in well-protected groups whereby each gorilla group consists of several individuals all headed by a dominant silverback who is responsible for all the group affairs.

Like any other living thing, these animals also have their threats which have contributed to the decline in the number of these animals. Among the threats is the destruction of their habitats since central Africa is well gifted with a number of tree species that are said to have lived for over 1000 years, timber exploitation is the major activity in this region which has greatly led to the total destruction of their habitats.

In addition to the above, the improvement of infrastructures in the region for transporting timbers has also led to increased transportation of gorilla meat (bush meat) to outside countries.

According to reports, these gorillas have increased in number in the world market where they are taken as pets which also leads to a decrease in the number of these apes. Furthermore, the region has been disturbed by tropical diseases such as the recent outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is said to have claimed the lives of a third of the total population of these animals in the region and together with the above threats have led to the decline in a number of these apes making them endangered species.

Like other animals, these endangered also communicate and they normally do it using their auditory signal, visual signals and odor. The animals are generally quiet but may sometimes show communication by screaming, beating their chests, barking and roaring. According to the scientific study, it was found that over 20 vocalizations have been heard by scientists and each seems to have a unique meaning.

These animals are broadly located in the Congo basin and are continuously inhabiting the forests of Gabon, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville. These animals can also move and they can move to about one mile in a single day because of their large size but they can exceed a mile especially when the fruits are abundant.