Eastern lowland gorilla
| Eastern lowland gorilla | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Family: | Hominidae |
| Genus: | Gorilla |
| Species: | G. beringei |
| Subspecies: | G. b. graueri |
| Trinomial name | |
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Gorilla beringei graueri (Matschie, 1914) |
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| Geographic range in Africa | |
The eastern lowland gorilla or Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) is a subspecies of eastern gorilla endemic to the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Important populations of this gorilla live in the Kahuzi-Biega and Maiko National Parks and their adjacent forests, the Tayna Gorilla Reserve, the Usala forest and on the Itombwe Massif.
It is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies. It has jet black coats like the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), although the hair is shorter on the head and body. The male's coat, like that of other gorillas, turns silver at the back as the animal matures. There are many more western lowland gorillas than the eastern variety; compared to over 100,000 western lowland gorillas, there were only about 5,000 eastern lowland gorillas in the wild in a 2004 report and fewer than 3,800 in a 2016 one. Outside the native range, only two females were in captivity at the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, per a 1987 book.[1]
Eastern lowland gorillas are the largest subspecies of gorilla and the largest living primates. Males weigh 204–250 kilograms (450–551 lb), but exceptional males can weigh 272 kilograms (600 lb) or more. Females usually weigh half as much. Males have a standing height of 1.76–1.94 metres (5.8–6.4 ft) while females stand at 1.60 metres (5.2 ft) or less.
Gorillas spend long hours feeding on plant matter every day. Groups are stable apes as they stay together for months and years at a time, much like the structure of a family. In comparison to the Western Gorillas, groups of eastern lowland gorillas are usually larger.
Eastern lowland gorilla has the widest altitudinal range of any of the gorilla subspecies as they can be found in mountainous, transitional and lowland tropical forests. One of the most studied eastern lowland gorilla population lives in the highlands of Kahuzi-Biega where habitats vary between dense primary forests to moderately moist woodland, to Cyperus swamp and peat bog.
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Wikipedia