GORILLA
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Species: Chordata Mammalia Primates Pongidae Gorilla gorilla

The gorilla is the largest of the apes. Males are sometimes over 6 ft. (1.8
m) tall and weigh between 400 and 440 lb. (180 and 200 kg). These powerful
animals have broad chests, muscular necks, and broad, strong hands and
feet. But they are not the savage beasts of popular imagination. They are
peaceful, gentle animals, which never attack unless provoked, and are at
least as intelligent as chimpanzees.

Gorillas live in troops, comprising one or more adult males with several
females and their young. Each troop is led by an old male. The animals
generally walk on all fours, with the knuckles on the ground, and adults
rarely climb trees. Territories often overlap, but when troops meet, no
aggression is shown. Gorillas in lowland forests eat fruit and leaves,
often raiding banana plantations, whereas those living in mountains eat
bark, stems, and roots. They get nearly all their water from their food.
The gestation period is about 255 days and the animals may live up to 37
years. Besides leopards, which might prey on young, man are the only
enemies of gorillas.

There are three races. The gray-black to brown-black western gorillas live
in the lowland rain forests from sea level to about 1 mile (1,800 m) in
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, the extreme southwest of the
Central African Republic, and the extreme southwest of Nigeria. The jet
black eastern lowland race occupies a similar habitat in eastern Zaire,
ascending to about 1.5 mi. (2,400 m) in the highlands bordering the East
African Rift Valley. The black mountain gorilla occurs in the Virungu
Volcanoes, Mount Kahuzi in eastern Zaire, and parts of Rwanda and Uganda
between 1.7 and 2.2 mi. (2,700 m) above sea level.