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Gorilla
Gorilla
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla
Gorilla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gorillas are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. The eponymous genus Gorilla is divided into
two species: the eastern gorillas and the western gorillas, and either four or five subspecies. They are the largest living primates by physical size. The
DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 9599% depending on what is counted, and they are the next closest living relatives to
humans after the chimpanzees and bonobos.
Gorillas' natural habitats cover tropical or subtropical forests in Africa. Although their range covers a small percentage of Africa, gorillas cover a wide
range of elevations. The mountain gorilla inhabits the Albertine Rift montane cloud forests of the Virunga Volcanoes, ranging in altitude from
2,2004,300 metres (7,20014,100 ft). Lowland gorillas live in dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes as low as sea level, with western
lowland gorillas living in Central West African countries and eastern lowland gorillas living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo near its border
with Rwanda.[2]
Etymology
The word "gorilla" comes from the history of Hanno the Navigator, (circa 500 BC) a Carthaginian explorer on an expedition on the west African coast
to the area that later became Sierra Leone.[3] They encountered "a savage people, the greater part of whom were women, whose bodies were hairy,
and who our interpreters called Gorillae".[4] The word was then later used as the species name, though it is unknown whether what these ancient
Carthaginians encountered were truly gorillas, another species of ape or monkeys, or humans.[5]
The American physician and missionary Thomas Staughton Savage and naturalist Jeffries Wyman first described the western gorilla (they called it
Troglodytes gorilla) in 1847 from specimens obtained in Liberia.[6] The name was derived from Greek (gorillai), meaning "tribe of hairy
women",[7] described by Hanno.
Physical characteristics
Gorillas move around by knuckle-walking, although they sometimes walk bipedally for short distances while carrying food or in defensive
situations.[13] Wild male gorillas weigh 135 to 180 kg (298 to 397 lb) while adult females usually weigh half as much as adult males at 68113 kg
(150249 lb). Adult males are 1.7 to 1.8 m (5.6 to 5.9 ft) tall, with an arm span that stretches from 2.3 to 2.6 m (7.5 to 8.5 ft). Female gorillas are
shorter with smaller arm spans.[14] Adult male gorillas are known as silverbacks due to the characteristic silver hair on their backs reaching to the hips.
Occasionally, a silverback of over 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) and 230 kg (510 lb) has been recorded in the wild. Obese gorillas in captivity can weigh as much
as 270 kg (600 lb).[15] Gorilla facial structure is described as mandibular prognathism, that is, the mandible protrudes farther out than the maxilla.
Adult males also have a prominent sagittal crest.
The eastern gorilla is more darkly coloured than the western gorilla, with the mountain gorilla being the darkest of all. The mountain gorilla also has
the thickest hair. The western lowland gorilla can be brown or grayish with a reddish forehead. In addition, gorillas that live in lowland forests are
more slender and agile than the more bulky mountain gorillas. The eastern gorilla also has a longer face and broader chest than the western gorilla.[16]
Studies have shown gorilla blood is not reactive to anti-A and anti-B monoclonal antibodies, which would, in humans, indicate type O blood. Due to
novel sequences, though, it is different enough to not conform with the human ABO blood group system, into which the other great apes fit.[17] Like
humans, gorillas have individual finger prints.[18][19] Their eye colour is dark brown, framed by a black ring around the iris.
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