Western Lowland Gorilla

Taxobox
name = Western Lowland Gorilla
status = CR
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2007 | assessors = Tutin, C., Walsh, P., Baillie, J., Maisels, F. & Stokes, E. | year = 2007 | title = Gorilla gorilla "ssp." gorilla | id = 9406 | downloaded = 2007-09-12]

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image_caption = "Jock" (male) at Bristol Zoo, England

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image2_caption = Western Lowland Gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Primates
familia = Hominidae
genus = "Gorilla"
species = "G. gorilla"
subspecies = "G. g. gorilla"
trinomial = "Gorilla gorilla gorilla"
trinomial_authority = (Savage, 1847)

The Western Lowland Gorilla ("Gorilla gorilla gorilla") is a subspecies of the Western Gorilla ("Gorilla gorilla") that lives in montane, primary, and secondary forests and lowland swamps in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is the gorilla usually found in zoos. Adult male Gorillas are prone to cardiomyopathy, a degenerative heart disease. Babec, a Western Lowland Gorilla on exhibit at the Birmingham Zoo in Birmingham, Alabama (USA) was the first gorilla to receive an artificial pacemaker.

Size

A male Western Lowland Gorilla can stand convert|6|ft|m tall and weigh almost convert|450|lb|kg. [ [http://www.jacksonvillezoo.org/things/WesternLowlandGorilla.asp Western Lowland Gorilla Bio Facts] Retrieved 2008-03-22.]

Diet

The Western Lowland Gorilla eats plants (including bamboo) and occasionally insects.

Behavior

They live in family groupings of one dominant male, five to seven adult females, children and adolescents, and possibly a few non-dominant males. Gorillas reproduce slowly because females do not begin reproducing until the age of nine or ten and only produce one baby approximately every five years. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/12/tech/main3254141.shtml Planet Of No Apes? Experts Warn It's Close] CBS News Online, 2007-09-12. Retrieved 2008-03-22.]

Conservation

In the 1980s, a census taken of the gorilla populations in equatorial Africa was thought to be 100,000.cite web
author = CNN
title = More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo
publisher = CNN
date = 2008-08-05
url = http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/05/congo.gorillas/index.html
accessdate = 2008-08-05] Researchers adjusted the figure after years of poaching and deforestation had reduced the population to approximately 50,000.

Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2006 and 2007 found more than 100,000 previously unreported gorillas have been living in the swamp forests of Lake Tele Community Reserve and in neighbouring Marantaceae (dryland) forests in the Republic of the Congo.

With the new discovery, the current population of Western Lowland Gorillas could be around 150,000–200,000. However, the gorilla remains vulnerable to Ebola, deforestation, and poaching.

References

External links

*ARKive - [http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Gorilla_gorilla/ images and movies of the western gorilla "(Gorilla gorilla)"]
* [http://www.gorilla.org/ The Gorilla Foundation]
* [http://www.thebigzoo.com/Animals/Western_Lowland_Gorilla.asp The Big Zoo: Western Lowland Gorilla]
* [http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/gorilla/gorilla.htm Zoo.org: Western Lowland Gorilla]
* [http://www.colszoo.org/animalareas/aforest/gorilla.html Columbus Zoo and Aquarium: Western Lowland Gorilla]
* [http://www.okczoo.com/exhi_grea_gori.htm Oklahoma City Zoo: Western Lowland Gorilla]
* [http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/05/astonishing-gorilla-discovery-in-congo/ Astonishing’ gorilla discovery in Republic of Congo]