Gorillas

**Gorillas By Paul Liu **

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=Introduction=

What looks like humans but is a lot stronger and hairier? If you answered gorillas, then you are correct! Gorillas might appear to be dumb, but you are wrong. Gorillas have a highly advanced social organization. Gorillas also follow the rules of nature, it also has habitat, food and predators also they have an interesting reproduction cycle and the way of living and socializing. = = =Appearance=

An average male gorilla is 6 feet tall; it weighs up to 600 Ib. In addition the strength of a male is equals to 4 men and can spread it arms 8 feet apart, as a result they are able to support their weight and swing on the trees. An average female gorilla weighs up to 200 Ib and is about 5 feet tall.
 * Gorillas** are the largest of all **primates**. The kingdom they belong in is “__**Animalia**__,” class is “__**Mammalian.”**__They belong in the species // gorilla // //&// //**__ beringei __**.// They look similar to an average monkey, but they are usually taller, heavier than normal monkeys. Their face is shaped like a circle. They have short body with a wide chest and covered with mostly blackish or black fur. They have long arms, hands and feet, rough skin, small, dark-brown eyes and tiny ears,. Furthermore they have long fingers, but short thumbs; they also have big toes in addition adults have 32 teeth. They usually crawl on the ground using the knuckles of their hands and feet. The weight of their body is supported by their feet.


 * [[image:http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/gorilla/images/pic-silverback.jpg align="center" link="@http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/gorilla/images/pic-silverback.jpg"]] ||
 * This is a male gorilla ||

=Habitat, Food and Predators=

Gorillas’ lives in **rainforests**, additionally the rain forest has to have daylight of 12 hours in addition the temperature has to be around 23 degrees Celsius. They also might also live in abandoned field, wet lowland forests and swamps. Gorillas are mainly __**herbivores**__. They eat leaves, fruit, seeds, tree bark, plant bulbs, tender plant shoots, and flowers, fungus, roots bamboo, tubers and wild celery in addition t hey rarely drink, because the food they consume has enough water for them. They have been known for eating over 200 species of plants. Sometimes they also eat ants. About 86% of their diet is leaves, shoots, and stems, 7% is roots, 3% is flowers, 2% is fruit, and 2% ants, snails, and grubs. The food don’t have a lot of nutrients which as a result they consume 50 pounds of food per day. Gorillas don’t usually have **predators**. As a result of the **habitat** growing smaller and food getting less by the minute, there will be more fights and the chance of running into each other increases. Then some predators include: humans, leopards, crocodiles and wild cats. Normally wild cats are no match for the gorillas, but sometime they still steal a child to feed their stomach. Leopards also are no match for gorillas, but they still eat baby gorillas. The humans hunt them for their meat, fur and they also might use it as a trap.


 * [[image:http://www.discourse.net/archives/pix/american-crocodile-emerging-water.jpg width="219" height="223" caption="Those are some of the predators of gorillas" link="@http://www.discourse.net/archives/pix/american-crocodile-emerging-water.jpg"]] [[image:http://www.topnews.in/files/leopards.jpg width="209" height="218" link="@http://www.topnews.in/files/leopards.jpg"]] ||
 * Those are some of the predators of gorillas ||

=Reproduction and Baby Gorillas=

Gorillas are able to reproduce at the age of 12 years old. The gorillas mate once per year. The female produce a child about once every four year. Likewise 50% the child might die. Female might start mating at around nine years old and mate at any season. The female is pregnant for 8 to 9.5 month. When a baby gorilla is born it weighs about 4.5 pounds. After two or three years the weight will be between 20 to 25 pounds. The baby gorillas feed on their mother’s milk for the first 2.5 years, as well the baby gorillas only will stay with their mother for 3 to 4 years. The baby gorilla will be able to crawl after 2 month of birth and they can walk before they are nine month old.


 * [[image:http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/gorilla-distribution-map.gif align="center" link="@http://www.solcomhouse.com/images/gorilla-distribution-map.gif"]] ||
 * This is a map that shows habitat of gorillas in Africa ||

=Social Habits and Warning Displays=

Much like humans, gorillas have advanced social organizations. For example, gorillas live in groups of 6 to 7 gorillas. Each group has a **__silver back__**(A silver back is like the leader of that group. It is a male gorilla and its job is to protect and find shelter for the group.), a few male gorilla, a few female gorillas and a few baby gorillas. The spacing between each group is called “home range”. In addition within the group, each gorilla helps each other to comb and clean up. By doing this they improve the social relationship. Gorillas build nests on the trees for sleeping at the night. Until the baby gorilla is 3, it will share the same nest with its mother. Usually the displays are causes by a stranger or an invader. The silverback of the group would roar at the invader. Then if the invader still keeps coming, then the silverback would stand up and tearing the trees. It might also beat its chest with its hands.

= = = = =Conclusion=

Gorillas follow the rules of nature. They have food and predators and they also have an interesting reproduction cycle and way of living and socializing. Gorillas also have highly advanced organizational systems. At first, they might appear stupid but, as you have learned from this Wikibook, they are intelligent and gentle animals.

=BIB:=

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