Gorillas are one of Africa's most iconic and fascinating animals.
These animals are known to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. Gorillas are known for their emotional intellect - expressing happiness, sadness, laughter and grief. Gorillas are also known for their intellect - they are known to be good and language and puzzles. One Gorilla named Koko, even learned how to use and communicate with sign language with people.
Koko is now sadly dead; she died last year. However, her story can still live on. The capacity for this animal to learn and communicate through sign language leaves us with so many questions. Is it possible that we could communicate with other Gorillas through sign language? Or, is it even possible that we can find a way to communicate with other animals? All animals do already communicate; they communicate through body language. They also communicate verbally, for example - birds singing is an example of verbal communication. The question is though; is it likely that we can, at some point communicate with animals in the same way that Koko communicated with humans?
Koko's story leaves us with such thoughts.
Gorillas are closely related with humans; they share over 98% of the same DNA with us. This makes the Gorilla an animal who shares many of the same qualities that humans share. This doesn't just mean being emotionally intelligent, or clever in other ways - it also means that Gorillas share other similar qualities with humans - this specifically includes Gorillas being social animals, like humans.
Gorillas As Social Animals
Gorillas are one of the most well-known animals for their social bonding skills and behaviours. They are very social animals. Gorillas live in groups which are know as troops or bands. In these groups there is between 10 and 15 female Gorillas, and one male - the group is led by the male Gorilla. There will also be young Gorillas in the groups when the females give birth.
Gorilla Reproduction
Females will not give birth to their young until they are mature Gorillas; that takes a few years to happen after the female Gorillas are born. Because Gorillas have a slow reproductive rate, it is affecting their population: Gorilla populations are being affected by their slow population growth. A slow population growth in this species, is one of the things that threatens this species.
However, it is not the only things which threaten this animal.
Threats To Gorillas
There are several threats to the Gorilla, and slow population is one of those threats. Another threat includes the illegal bushmeat trade. It is estimated that there is 3,000 apes who are killed as a result of the illegal bushmeat trade. There is even a secret trade in baby chimps. Often species of animals can share the same threats to their existence; especially when these animals share the same habitats.
The illegal bushmeat trade also offers another threat to Gorillas: deforestation. Deforestation is a major threat to the survival of Gorillas; especially when it comes to species of Gorillas which are critically endangered. Mountain Gorillas are one subspecies of Gorilla which are critically endangered, and have suffered and declined because of deforestation in their habitat.
How Many Subspecies Of Gorilla Are There?
There are four subspecies of Gorilla. These four subspecies are: (1) Mountain Gorillas, (2) the Cross River Gorillas, (3) the Western Lowland Gorilla, and, (4) the Eastern Lowland Gorilla. Let's look more at these four subspecies of Gorilla.
Mountain Gorillas
Out of all of the Gorilla subspecies, Mountain Gorillas are probably the most famous one. The Mountain Gorilla is probably the best well-known out of the four subspecies because they are endangered: it is thought that there is less than 1,000 individuals living in the wild today. It is due to their very low population that they are very well-known, and today they are one of the worlds most endangered wild animals.
The Cross River Gorilla
The Cross River Gorilla is probably the least known subspecies out of the four, and that is unfortunate. It's unfortunate because these animals need a lot more attention, due to them being critically endangered. They are critically endangered and very close to extinction: there are only between 200 and 300 individual Cross River Gorillas left in the wild today.
Western Lowland Gorilla
The Western Lowland Gorilla is another subspecies of Gorilla which is very near extinction. However, unlike with the Cross River Gorillas where we know roughly how many of them remain in the wild, wildlife conservationists are unsure how many Western Lowland Gorillas remain in the wild today. Their numbers are not known.
The Eastern Lowland Gorilla
And finally, the Eastern Lowland Gorilla is another subspecies of Gorilla which is critically endangered. Like with the Western Lowland Gorilla, it is uncertain how many Eastern Lowland Gorillas there are in the wild today. Wildlife conservationists don't know how many Eastern Lowland Gorillas there are left.
The Worlds Last Gorillas
Out of three of the subspecies of Gorilla, three of them are critically endangered, and one of them are endangered. Therefore, the worlds Gorilla population is not a healthy one, and one that remains in the balance. Their fragile existence also suggests that their habitat and the ecosystem which exists around the Gorilla is an unhealthy one too - we can tell how healthy or unhealthy habitats and ecosystems are by the populations of wild animals.
Therefore, a lot can be said by the healthiness of an ecosystem by how well animals are doing within that ecosystem. When it comes to analyzing Gorilla populations, it presents to us evidence that their habitats (such as the rainforests that these Gorillas live in), are not healthy, and like the Gorilla, the rainforests are declining.
In saying that, there is hope. Last year, the Mountain Gorilla population had increased to over 1,000. This is good news for Mountain Gorillas and helps us to be (cautiously) optimistic for the future for these beautiful, intelligent and unique animals.