Eastern gorilla
| Eastern gorilla | ||||||||||||
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Mountain gorilla ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gorilla beringei | ||||||||||||
| Matschie , 1903 | ||||||||||||
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The Eastern Gorilla ( Gorilla beringei ) is one of the two species that the genus of gorillas is divided into. It is the larger and rarer of the two species.
Eastern gorillas differ from western gorillas, among other things, in their somewhat larger dimensions, in a darker coat and in the fact that the typical silver coloration of mostly older males (see silverback ) is limited to the back. They also form larger groups.
The eastern gorilla is divided into at least two subspecies:
- The eastern lowland gorilla ( G. b. Graueri ) lives in lower-lying rainforests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo .
- The mountain gorilla ( G. b. Beringei ) is characterized by a longer fur and lives in the Virunga volcanoes in the border area between the Democratic Republic of the Congo / Rwanda / Uganda and in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda. The animals of this region ("Bwindigorillas") could, in the opinion of some scientists, represent their own subspecies, but this has not yet been scientifically described.
Mountain gorillas are the most distinctive ground dwellers among the gorillas and mainly feed on leaves. In contrast, eastern lowland gorillas are likely to feed partially on fruits. The way of life of this subspecies has been little researched in contrast to that of the mountain gorillas.
Eastern gorillas are less common and more threatened than western gorillas and are rarely kept in zoos. Current estimates of the total population of the eastern lowland gorilla amount to 3000 to 5000 animals and that of the mountain gorilla (as of spring 2010) to 790 animals, 306 of which (as of 2006) in the Bwindi National Park. The IUCN lists the species as endangered and the mountain gorilla as critically endangered .
literature
- Thomas Geissmann: Comparative Primatology. Springer, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3540436456 .
- DE Wilson & DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, ISBN 0801882214 .
- Stephanie L. Canington: Gorilla beringei (Primates: Hominidae). Mammalian Species 50 (967), Oct. 1, 2018; Pp. 119-133. doi : 10.1093 / mspecies / sey014
Web links
- Gorilla gorilla. In: Animal Info. March 2, 2005, archived from the original on November 11, 2018 (English, information on lifestyle and population numbers).
- KA Cawthon Lang: Primate Factsheets: Gorilla (Gorilla) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology. In: Primate Info Net . October 4, 2005 (English).
- Gorilla beringei in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006 Posted by: T. Butynski & Members of the Primate Specialist Group, 2000. Accessed on 06/04/2007.