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  2. Gorilla

Gorilla

  1. Species
  2. Gorilla
Gorilla
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Facts

  • Population
    Several hundreds of thousands, but decreasing
  • Scientific Name
    Gorilla gorilla (western gorilla) and Gorilla beringei (eastern gorilla)
  • Height
    4-6 ft.
  • Weight
    up to 440 pounds

Gorillas are gentle giants and display many human-like behaviors and emotions, such as laughter and sadness. In fact, gorillas share 98.3% of their genetic code with humans, making them our closest cousins after chimpanzees and bonobos. The largest of the great apes, gorillas are stocky animals with broad chests and shoulders, large, human-like hands, and small eyes set into hairless faces. The two gorilla species—the eastern and western gorilla—live in equatorial Africa, separated by about 560 miles of Congo Basin forest. Each has a lowland and upland subspecies. Gorillas live in family groups of usually five to 10, but sometimes two to more than 50, led by a dominant adult male—or silverback—that can hold his position for years, if not decades. The bond between the silverback and his females forms the basis of gorilla social life. Females become sexually mature around seven or eight years old but don’t begin to breed until a couple of years later. Males mature at an even greater age. Once a female begins to breed, she'll likely give birth to only one baby every four to six years and only three or four over her entire lifetime. This low rate of reproduction makes it difficult for gorillas to recover from population declines. Overall, both gorilla species have been decreasing in numbers for decades, and a 2010 United Nations report suggests that they may disappear from large parts of the Congo Basin by the mid-2020s.

However, mountain gorillas, a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, are the exception and have been increasing over the last few decades, a true conservation success story. This achievement is partially due to the ongoing efforts and collaboration of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP), a unique coalition of three international conservation organizations, WWF, Conservation International, and Fauna & Flora, which continues to ensure the long-term survival of mountain gorillas.

Conservation efforts by WWF, other organizations, and governments are making a difference for gorillas. The population of mountain gorillas has continued to increase in recent years, leading to its downlisting from Critically Endangered to Endangered in November 2018.

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New study confirms FSC-certified forests help wildlife thrive in the Congo Basin

FSC-certified forests harbor a higher number of large mammals compared to non-certified forests.

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Two elephants cross a river inside the heavily forested Congo Basin

The Gorilla Family

Why They Matter

  • Our Closest Cousins

    Gorillas share 98.3% of their DNA with humans, making them our closest cousins after chimpanzees and bonobos. These charismatic, intelligent animals often surprise us with behaviors and emotions so similar to our human experience.

  • Gorillas Help Maintain Forests

    Gorillas are mainly vegetarian and spend almost half of the day feeding on stems, bamboo shoots, and a variety of fruits, supplemented with bark and invertebrates. Gorillas play a key role in maintaining the biodiversity of their forest homes by spreading the seeds of the trees they eat and by opening up gaps in the trees as they move around, letting in light and helping sun-loving plants grow.

  • Protecting Gorilla Habitat Helps Humans

    In Central Africa, humans depend on the same environment as gorillas for their food, water, medicine, and other forest products. Protecting the tropical forests of the Congo Basin where the gorillas live also conserves these forests and their resources on which the local and indigenous people of the region depend. The Congo Basin is home to the second largest tropical rainforest on Earth, which serves as the green heart of Africa. Moisture generated by this forest falls as rain in the United States, meaning that the impact of the loss of this forest will be felt globally.

Threats

  • Population Several hundreds of thousands, but decreasing
Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) female 'Malui' walking through a cloud of butterflies she has disturbed in Bai Hokou, Dzanga Sangha Special Dense Forest Reserve, Central African Republic.

Like humans, gorillas reproduce slowly, giving birth to usually only one baby at a time and then raising that infant for several years before giving birth again. This slow reproduction rate makes gorillas especially vulnerable to any population declines.

Habitat destruction is a problem across their central African range. Gorillas are also killed for the bushmeat trade, or accidentally killed or maimed by iron snares that are set in the forests in search of other bushmeat species such as pigs (red river hog). Efforts to protect gorillas are often hampered by weak law enforcement, lack of rule of law, and civil unrest in many places where gorillas live. 

However, the biggest threat is most likely the Ebola virus, which is deadly to both gorillas and humans. Other diseases such as anthrax pose additional threats to their survival.

HABITAT LOSS

Only about 22% of western lowland gorillas live inside protected areas so the majority of these gorillas are unprotected and highly vulnerable to poachers. Large areas of gorilla forest have already been lost, as forests are cleared to make space for subsistence farming or industrial agriculture, or fragmented as a result of selective commercial logging or the construction of roads, or the expansion of human settlements.  

There is also a strong link between habitat loss and the bushmeat trade. As previously inaccessible forests are opened up by timber companies and others, commercial hunters gain access to areas where gorillas roam and often use logging vehicles to transport bushmeat to far-away markets, as well as sell meat to employees of the logging companies. 

HUNTING AND TRADE

The commercial trade in bushmeat, which occurs throughout west and central Africa, is a significant and constant threat to gorillas today. Apes are being killed primarily to supply high-end demand for meat in urban centers. Gorillas' low reproductive rates mean that even relatively low levels of hunting are causing population decline, which if even possible could take many generations to be reversed.

DISEASE

Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe, infectious, often fatal disease that has devastated many African great ape populations. Scientists in 2003 estimated that a third of the wild gorilla population had been killed by the Ebola virus, and the species remain at risk. Additionally, because gorillas share so many traits with humans, they are susceptible to other human diseases. Populations of gorillas that are in frequent contact with humans are particularly vulnerable to deadly respiratory infections. In the mountain gorilla range, where gorillas frequently raid farms or come in contact with humans through tourism, they are susceptible to scabies, TB, and a host of other diseases from human transmission.

WEAK LAW ENFORCEMENT

Both the killing of gorillas and trade in gorilla products are illegal across the animals' range, but due to weaknesses in law enforcement capacity and broader governance issues in some of the regions where the gorillas live, poachers, traders, and consumers are rarely apprehended. Furthermore, most gorillas do not live in protected areas, but in other forests such as logging concessions, where law enforcement capacity is even weaker or often totally absent.

What WWF Is Doing

Guard with hand held GPS device for recording gorilla locations

Guard with a handheld GPS device to record location in Virunga National Park, habitat of the mountain gorilla.

PREVENTING POACHING AND ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

Because poaching is a problem across central Africa, WWF and partners monitor the illegal trade of gorillas and other great apes. WWF also advocates for nations to more effectively enforce wildlife laws and raise awareness in local villages of the dangers of eating bushmeat. In addition, WWF has trained local wildlife authorities in modern methods of antipoaching and gorilla monitoring and provided equipment and provisions for antipoaching teams in several nations.

For example, the eco-guards in Dzanga-Sangha have removed over 850,000 snares from the forest since the creation of the protected area and confiscated well over 300 guns and 30,000 rounds of ammunition. These incredible results and the hard work of these anti-poaching teams have significantly contributed to the safety of its gorillas.

Thanks to these antipoaching efforts in Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas (DSPA) in the Central African Republic (CAR), populations of gorillas and other species like forest elephants are thriving.

DEVELOPING TOURISM

Ecotourism provides opportunities for protecting gorillas and their forest homes and for helping the local people. WWF has habituated gorilla groups to humans to develop opportunities for gorilla tourism. For instance, in the Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas, located in the southwestern Central African Republic, WWF co-manages these protected areas since their creation in 1990 and has run a Primate Habituation Program since 1997 that habituates western lowland gorillas for tourism and research. It plays a vital role in the park’s management strategy by generating significant revenue and strengthening the vital link with the community. The program is the major employer of Indigenous people in the region and currently employs 60 people, including 45 indigenous Ba'Aka. Today, more investments are being made to further develop ecotourism in Dzanga-Sangha with the projection to attain at least 1,000 tourists annually by 2025.

As for mountain gorillas, their future is inextricably linked to tourism. The annual revenue earned directly from gorilla tourism is an important component of funding conservation and management of the parks, as well as local and national economies. Gorilla tourism has led to the recovery of the mountain gorillas but also benefited other species and local communities. The remarkable success of mountain gorilla tourism has significantly contributed to the conservation efforts within the Greater Virunga Landscape. However, gorilla tourism may also pose potential threats to these apes due to the risk of Anthropozoonoses, increased stress levels, and negative impacts on their behavior.

MONITORING POPULATIONS

WWF conducts research into the ecology, distribution, and population biology of gorillas. We also support research into the spread of diseases between humans and gorillas and the natural spread of diseases such as Ebola, as well as disease prevention. Park rangers are often the ones monitoring gorillas, and so WWF and our partners have established a ranger-based monitoring program for mountain gorillas. In collaboration with IGCP and other partners, we helped support the first mountain gorilla census in Virunga Massif in 2003, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in 2006, and across their entire population in the Virunga landscape in 2016.

PRESERVING HABITAT

Forest, East province, Cameroon

Habitat destruction is a concern for both eastern and western gorillas. WWF has worked to designate new protected areas for gorillas in many places, like Cameroon, where protected areas provide havens for the western lowland gorilla. WWF also collaborates with local governments in the Congo Basin, logging companies, and international lending institutions to promote dialogue, encourage the best environmental practices, and promote the adoption of forest certification standards such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

A 2024 study published in the scientific journal Nature found significantly higher populations of medium- to large-sized mammals within FSC-certified forests in Gabon and the RoC compared to non-certified ones. The findings serve as a robust indicator of FSC's effectiveness not only in conserving wildlife but also in fostering environments where economic development can proceed without sacrificing ecological integrity.

Experts

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