The Life of Animals | Western gorilla | The western gorilla is slightly Smaller, lighter, more Slender and clearer than its eastern cousin dyed. The Western Lowland Gorilla can be brown or greyish with a Yellowish forehead. Males measure 160-170 cm and weigh 140-160 kg. The western gorilla is the Smaller species of the gorilla. The Cross River gorilla differs from the Western Lowland gorilla in Both skull and tooth dimensions. It is also about 10-15 cm and 20-35 kg heavier Taller, but still Smaller and lighter than the mountain gorilla and the Eastern Lowland gorilla, latter the largest subspecies of the gorilla and the largest living primate.
Western gorillas live in groups That Vary in size the between 2 and 20 individuals, composed of at least one male, females and Their Several offspring. A dominant male silverback heads the group, with younger males usually leaving the group They reach maturity. There is therefore a long interval of the between births, the which partly explains the slow population growth rates That Make the western gorilla so vulnerable to poaching. Gorillas are long-lived and may survive for as long as 40 years in the wild.
Fruit forms a large part of the western gorilla's diet and They Will Further travel each day in search of fruiting trees than Their eastern relatives. Wild western gorillas are known to use tools. The World Conservation Union lists the Western Gorilla as critically endangered, the most severe denomination next to global extinction, on its 2007 Red List of Threatened Species. With the new discovery, the current population of Western Lowland gorillas Could be around 150000-200000. However, the gorilla Remains vulnerable to Ebola, deforestation, and poaching.
Estimates on the number of Cross River gorillas remaining is about 280 in the wild, concentrated in approximately 11 locations. Recent genetic research and field surveys suggest That these locations are linked by the occasional migration of individual gorillas. The nearest population of Western Lowland Gorilla is some 250 km away. The park now forms part of an Important trans-boundary protected area with Nigeria's Cross River National Park, Safeguarding an estimated 115 gorillas-a third of the Cross River gorilla population-along with other rare species. The hope Is that the gorillas Should Be Able to move the between the Takamanda reserve in Cameroon over the border to Nigeria's Cross River National Park.
