Gorilla - description, habitat, lifestyle

Gorillas are impressive animals, the most massive primates of mammals. Their DNA is similar to human. Visually habits and some habits are too reminiscent of people. And this leads scientists to the idea of ​​the relationship of man and monkey.

Habitat

Mammals that prefer plant foods live mainly in the tropics. Rainforests of Central Africa, the most optimal conditions for the habitat of gorillas. One of the species settled in the Albertin and Virunka rift forests at an altitude of about 4300 meters in a tropical climate, and some low-lying inhabitants of other species live comfortably in swamps and densely planted forests. Eastern anthropoids are found in the Congo, while Western representatives have invaded the Center and West of the African continent.

Inhabitants of the western regions are characterized by moderate tones in color (gray, brown, red). Oriental - more saturated colors, have a wide chest and elongated face, mountain residents - bright and more exotic, do not differ in particular harmony in comparison with the lowlands.

Classification of syvapithecus

Gorillas are divided into subspecies:

1. Plain western - occupies a large habitat, with a population of about 35,000 individuals.
2. Plain eastern - occupy an area of ​​about 900 km and their number reaches 5,000 specimens.
3. Mountain - long-haired, with especially warm wool for warming in the mountains (620 individuals).

Each subspecies has its own characteristics and characteristic differences. They are distinguished by color, width of face, size, weight. Of the 100,000 inhabitants of the lowlands, only 4,000 do not live in the wild. Mountain representatives number about 600 individuals and are subject to extinction.

A sexually mature gorilla is a male, reaches a size of up to 1.8 meters with a weight of up to 270 kg. The smallest individual can weigh 135 kg. Weight and height may vary by species. Silverback gorillas are the largest representatives of primates. The range of the animal’s hands is from 2 to 2, 6 m.

Females are a little smaller and their weight ranges from 68 kg to 113 kg; they have a short arm span compared to males.

A characteristic feature of gorillas is a prominent sagittal crest on the head. It should also be noted that the animal can move on two legs, but mainly overcomes distances on four limbs. In this case, the emphasis is not on the pads, but on the back of the fingers, which allows not to injure the delicate skin of the palms.

Likeness to man

It should be recognized that the similarities between the apes and humans are obvious, in addition:

1. The humanoid animal has various shades of eyes, from light tones to dark brown.
2. The genetic composition differs from humans by only 1.6%.
3. The similarity is also monitored due to the death of Sivapitecs - mainly primates die from pathologies of the myocardium and blood flow.
4. Monkeys tend to exist collectively, they live in groups of sexually mature males and females, while the females are particularly aggressive with respect to each other.

Everyday gorillas

Mammal primates live an interesting life consisting of three main types of activities - eating, walking in the surroundings and resting. The first half of the day the gorillas sleep, after which they walk around the neighborhood. Children walk, adults - catch insects from each other. By the end of the day, the leader builds a rookery on the ground, the rest are located for the night on the trees. This is explained by the fact that the leader is the largest individual and usually the branches on the trees do not withstand the mass.

Interesting fact - Gorillas are rather unclean animals. During sleep, they do not get up from the nest to fulfill the body's natural needs.

Mountain residents consume young shoots of plants and fruits, juicy stems. Bamboo is considered a favorite treat, but the main percentage is allotted to the fruit diet. All gorillas have strong jaws and can feed on roots and branches. Animal food does not attract them, with the exception of infrequent cases of eating insects. Also, the need for salt is made up by eating clay. The water balance is replenished mainly through plant food. It is worth noting that, getting into an unnatural habitat, a zoo or a human home, monkeys can switch to animal feed.

The only difficulty in obtaining food is the need to descend to the ground after picking the fetus. Bulky monkeys can not afford to eat on a hill due to excessively large sizes and clumsiness. Usually a gorilla doesn't bother. Sitting in one place, she takes out food from all sides, until she has eaten all the fruits placed nearby, only after that she moves to another place.

Monkeys do not have problems with food production, since there is food everywhere and with daily walks up to 500 m, there is always something to eat. It takes about two hours to eat, after which the whole group is placed around a large male with silver hair on his back for relaxation.

Groups of individuals number from 5 to 30 gorillas, and as in any team, the leader — the leader — occupies the main place in them. Also included are several males, females and babies. It is worth noting that the animals are strong, powerful and have a terrifying appearance, respectively, in tropical forests, especially no one competes with them.

The fact that the animals chose the damp climate of the tropics for living does not mean that they have a positive attitude to rains and water bodies. Monkeys bypass any sources with water, as they do not particularly need water.

A large animal with a frightening appearance is actually extremely rarely aggressive and, even if their aggression goes beyond, they do not attack people. The maximum that monkeys can do is bite. Usually the leader strengthens his authority with frightening dances, but in reality these are friendly and kind animals.

In their natural habitat, monkeys do not have enemies; the only existing threatening species is humans. The killing of primates is entertainment or hunting for collectible fragments from the field of zoology.

Hygiene

Monkeys are usually not particularly worried about hygiene, however, females tidy themselves up more often, and they also clean out their cubs, reviewing each villus, hair after hair. Teenagers are even more neat than females, but over the years this feature disappears.

Gorilla breeding

Females become sexually mature from 10 years old, males reach maturity closer to 12. Gorillas can mate at any time of the year, but only the leader of the group can be the father of the offspring of the female. Therefore, each sexually mature male must acquire his own group and become a leader or have his own family.

Cubs are born with a weight of about 2 kg 8.5 months after mating, and in one female the interval between offspring is 4 years. The baby is born helpless and bald, and the mother presses him to his chest for the first months, after which he clings to the fur on his back. Thus, he runs with the nurse for several years. Breastfeeding and full custody of the mother lasts about three years. Further, until the age of 5, the baby moves after the parents. It is worth noting that the male does not participate in the educational process. When raising a mother, she never punishes cubs, even though they are active and playful before the age of 6 years.

Gorillas are an endangered species of animals.The extraction of exclusive furs, skulls, and the capture of young monkeys for zoos exterminates the species. In an unnatural habitat, primates live much longer if they manage to avoid human infections. The lack of immunity to human diseases dramatically reduces the population of anthropoids. In the natural environment of the monkey live 35 years.

Interesting Facts

When a leader changes for any reason, the new leader eliminates all the offspring of his predecessor and occupies a full place in his group. If the family is left without the head of the family, the females should join another group, since the independent existence of gorillas is impossible and often ends in death. Nevertheless, in the mountains of Rwanda lives the bold gorilla Paseka, who risked saving the baby from death and doomed herself to the struggle for survival. The life of a desperate female and her offspring is watched by employees of the gorilla research fund and are always ready to intervene if necessary.

Gorilla males can behave aggressively, guarding their territory, beating young males to death, but the rocks, according to scientists, do not see the difference between their and other cubs. Dominant fathers pay the same amount of attention without making any difference. This is explained by the fact that earlier this species created families of a male and several females, and the owner of the family did not need to separate the children. After the groups expanded with other males, the attitude towards the babies did not change. Moreover, this species of gorilla is the calmest, and the leader is more likely to take care of his family than to act as a dictator.

For communication, primates use various poses, gestures, facial expressions, sounds. Monkeys use more than 20 sounds for dialogue. Stanford University during the "Coco Project", taught the gorilla the words of Amsleen and the animal adequately conducted a conversation with a person. They may also have different characters.

Video: Gorilla