Astounding Facts About Primates that Never Cease to Amaze
4. There are only about 1000 mountain gorillas left in the wild.
There are two types of gorillas, eastern and western, depending on which part of Africa they live. Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of eastern gorillas, and they are very endangered due to human activity destroying their natural habitats. Today, there are only about 1000 left in the wild, with a few living in captivity. Animals bred in captivity cannot be released into the wild because they have not developed the necessary skills to survive. For example, if they are used to humans feeding them, they have not developed the ability to forage for food and may starve very quickly if taken to the wild. They also would not have the protection of shrewdness because they did not grow up in one. Likewise, they do not have the social skills necessary to join one.
Like other primates, gorillas are extremely social and depend on their troops for protection. They even curl up together at night, with infants cuddling close to their mothers. Their shrewdnesses are small, only about ten each, so they frequently join other troops in adulthood to prevent inbreeding. What may surprise people is that human DNA is 98% similar to gorilla DNA, meaning that we are so closely related that we can actually spread our diseases to gorillas. They do not have the same immunity to those diseases as we do, so a simple cold could make a gorilla extremely ill.
There are two types of gorillas, eastern and western, depending on which part of Africa they live. Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of eastern gorillas, and they are very endangered due to human activity destroying their natural habitats. Today, there are only about 1000 left in the wild, with a few living in captivity. Animals bred in captivity cannot be released into the wild because they have not developed the necessary skills to survive. For example, if they are used to humans feeding them, they have not developed the ability to forage for food and may starve very quickly if taken to the wild. They also would not have the protection of shrewdness because they did not grow up in one. Likewise, they do not have the social skills necessary to join one.
Like other primates, gorillas are extremely social and depend on their troops for protection. They even curl up together at night, with infants cuddling close to their mothers. Their shrewdnesses are small, only about ten each, so they frequently join other troops in adulthood to prevent inbreeding. What may surprise people is that human DNA is 98% similar to gorilla DNA, meaning that we are so closely related that we can actually spread our diseases to gorillas. They do not have the same immunity to those diseases as we do, so a simple cold could make a gorilla extremely ill.
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13 September 2022
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