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#WESTERN LOWLAND GORILLA SILVERBACK SKIN#

Muscular arms are much longer than legs.

Mature males, called silverbacks, have silvery-grey hair on their backs and thighs.

Forehead is topped with a reddish/brown cap.

#WESTERN LOWLAND GORILLA SILVERBACK SKIN#

Skin is black and body hair is black with a brownish/grey tinge.

Western lowland gorillas are four and a half to five and a half feet tall (1.4-1.75 m) when standing on their two legs.

Tufts of white hair on baby gorilla bottoms allow mothers to see them in the dense forest.

As diurnal animals (active during the daytime), gorillas rely on keen eyesight with excellent depth perception and color vision.

Stomachs are larger than chests due to enlarged intestines needed to digest cellulose in plants.

A bony sagittal crest on top of the head supports strong jaw muscles and teeth to grind coarse vegetation.

Opposable thumbs and big toes allow for climbing and grasping and manipulating objects.

Communicates with over 20 vocalizations, including roars, grunts, whistles and barks.

Primarily terrestrial, gorillas walk on all fours by curling their fingers under and walking on their knuckles, called knuckle walking.

However, young people play a lot alongside their father. The father interacts little with his descendants, his role being, in particular, to defend his family against the attacks of other silverbacks.

The young remain on the mother’s back for about ten months and complete weaning takes place after about four years. Their reproductive rate is low, the female gives birth to one baby gorilla per year, especially since twins are rare and the gestation period is about 9 months. The life expectancy of the western gorilla in nature is around 45 years. When the males start to have a more developed silver back they also leave their group of origin, become solitary and start looking for other family groups to convince females to join them and form a new group. Females leave their native group at the time of their sexual maturity to join other silverbacks to reproduce. The social structure of the western gorilla is made up of a silverback, adult females generally between 3 and 7 and their offspring. Unlike eastern gorillas, only one silverback male is tolerated and present per group. Maintaining group cohesion is much more difficult when searching for food, especially during the rainy season when fruits are abundant, as some move further away from the group. Unlike chimpanzees, wild gorillas do not use many tools and they can cover long distances searching for food. In rainy seasons, the Gorilla builds its nest directly high up in the trees. During the dry season, the nests are simply constructed but can become more elaborate depending on the degree of rain and consist of cool branches that isolates the moisture from the soil.

In the evenings, they build their nests mainly on the ground next to the dominant male. The western gorilla groups are very cohesive, all members remain at a distance allowing auditory contact with the dominant male. The female reaches half of the male size and reproduces for the first time between 8 years and 11 years, much earlier than for the male. The male completely develops the silver color of his back around the age of 18. The western gorilla is physically smaller than the eastern gorilla.