A placid giant

Press, 9 March 1982, Page 18

A placid giant

A gorilla can reach heights of two metres and weights in excess of 240 kilograms. The female gorilla is, however, much smaller and lacks the male’s large crest and heavy brows. The skin and hair of the gorilla are black, although males who are more than 10 years old develop a silverygrey colour on their backs. Gorillas live only in Africa, but there are two

distinct races: the lowland gorilla, which inhabits the forests of West Africa, and the mountain gorilla from the upland forests of the Zaire basin. The mountain gorilla is slightly the smaller of the two, and is also much less common. The animals live in clans of up to about 30 individuals. Each clan has its own stretch' of forest, although

the ranges of neighbouring clans often overlap. The clan is led by an older gorilla, and includes a number of females with their young. It usually includes one or two young males. i Gorillas live mainly on fruit and leaves, collected either on the ground or in the trees. They sometimes raid plantations but are otherwise rather shy, peaceful animals.