Hi, I am a Gorilla and you will see me in zoos. There are two species of us. One is called the Eastern Gorilla, and the other is called the Western Gorilla. These Western Gorillas live in Western Africa in countries like Congo, Central African Republic and Gabon. The Eastern Gorilla lives in Eastern Africa countries such and Rwanda, and Uganda. We do live in zoos, but our favorite habitat is in swamps and forests. Our mountain gorillas live in forests and in the mountains, while the lowland gorillas live in swamps, lowlands, forests, and bamboo forests.
We are herbivores and we love eating plants, such as bamboo, fruit, stems, and leaves. Sometimes we will eat insects and ants, when we are in the mood. Our full grown adult males will eat 50 pounds of food in one day, and that’s a lot of food. But, next time check out how big adult gorillas look. We are one of the largest species of Primates, and of course the males are larger than the females. A male will weigh about 400 pounds, and are about 5 feet tall, and our females weigh about 200 pounds and are about 4 feet tall. The next time you see us, look at our long arms and notice that are legs are even longer. We do the Knuckle-Walk, that is when we use or knuckles on our hands to walk on all fours. I know most of you have seen us do that.
Yes, we are covered with brown or dark brown hair, it depends on where we are living. You know a male gorilla is getting old when their hair turns white on their back. These gorillas are called Silverback Gorillas.
If you are wondering if we are endangered, yes we are from the Ebola Virus that has been killing us and many of you have been hunting us. I know you think our hands and feet look like yours. Our toes are big, and we have opposable thumbs and you don’t. We are pretty smart animals because we can communicate with you if we are taught sign language. At night we do live in nests, and our babies will stay in their Mama’s nest until they are about 3 years old. We do live in small groups in the wild, called Troops or Bands. In each group you will find one male Silverback Gorilla with some females and their babies. We are usually calm, but our Silverback Gorillas will defend us if he feels threatened. Maybe one day you can come and visit us at the zoo. I hope you will see how large we are and if you leave us alone we will leave you alone.
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