The silverback gorillas are incredibly fierce and muscular and they can hold around 200kgs when they are adults. Gorillas have larger muscles in their arms than in their legs so their arm span is about 30cm longer than their legs.Gorillas and humans share 98% of our DNA.
When male gorillas get older the hair on their back becomes silver. Then they become the leader of the group.
Gorillas live in lowland tropical rainforests in central Africa where there are loads of tropical types of fruits.Gorillas like to sleep in nests in trees or on the ground. ForTo survive they need shelter, food and a group and if they don't have a group they can be killed by leopards. In the tropical rainforest gorillas are being poached for bush meat. This bush meat is quite expensive and this is not allowed.
Gorillas can live around 25 to 35 years old.When gorilla babies are born they spend the first 6 to 7 months on their mothers back. They can grow twice as fast as human babies and gorillas can start climbing at the age of 7 months old. There are only around 2000 silverback gorillas left in the world so they’re critically endangered and hard to find.
Gorillas are mostly vegetarians meaning they mainly eat fruits and vegetables. Some of the things that gorillas like to eat are stems,bamboo,shoots,fruit and also silverbeet. About 70% of their diet is made up from fruit. Gorillas live in big groups and families with up to 40 members per group to build their nests.
Humans are one of the biggest threats to Gorillas.We have killed 1000s and 1000s of them. Very soon Gorillas could be facing extinction. leopards are the only predator in the tropical rainforest that have the power to kill a silverback gorilla. Leopards are smart and strong and they are carnivores which makes them eat meat.