What do gorillas eat?

When travelers meet the gorilla families in their natural environment, very many travelers have are inquisitive to known a lot about their behavior patterns of life in jungle.  This is do due to their natural physical appearance in size and gentleness they express when they meet with the human being due to that fact they are 98% relatives to human beings. Among the frequently commonly asked questions include; what do gorillas eat? With the help of the park ranger guides information that you will meet when you go gorilla trekking in the jungle as well as a lot of gorilla articles that have been written on the different platforms travelers able to know and figure out what gorilla eat and many other unique patterns of life that you will encounter.

Gorillas are well known as endangered primate species that can only be found in three African countries that is Rwanda, Uganda and the democratic republic of Congo that share the Virunga massif conservation area. The Virunga massif covers volcanoes national park of Rwanda, Virunga national park of Congo as well as Mgahinga gorilla national and part of Bwindi forest national park in Uganda.

The endangered gorilla primates are the huge and strongest primates on planet earth; they are divided into two different species such as the mountain gorillas as well as the lowland gorillas. The lowland gorillas are divided in two species that is the eastern lowland gorillas and western lowland gorillas which are categorized depending on their location, size and natural habitat.

Mountain gorillas are mostly endangered apes as well as primates mammals that live and move in groups that range from 2-40 members with a mature silverback gorilla as the head. The silverback gorilla leads the family until its gets too old then another mature silverback gorilla takes over, they decide when to feed, they settle disputes and fights amongst the family members and they always fight and protect its family members.

Feeding habits

The endangered mountain: these live in the high altitudes of the thick tropical rainforest of Bwindi impenetrable forest national park, Mgahinga national park of Uganda, Virunga national park of Congo and volcanoes national park of Rwanda.

Mountain gorillas in the tropical rainforests are vegetarians, they mainly feed on green plants such as the wild flowers, the bamboo shoots, herbs, leaves, roots, branches, vines and many other forest trees vegetables. They supplement their feeding with ash and soil so as to regulate the amount of food eaten through quickening up digestion and also position their plants substance that was eaten from some plants. Although mountain gorillas feed on snails, ants, caterpillars as well as termites, this is list percentage of about 2% which helps them to get some proteins in body.

Although mountain gorillas feed on fruits, these are hardly found due to the natural habitats that rarely support the growth of the fruits compared in the lowland areas where you will find the lowland gorillas.

Mountain gorillas are known to be so selective as they enjoy their feeding in the tropical rainforest due to the fact that they have plenty of what to feed on in the thick forest. For example they start eating a plant, they will only enjoy eating the roots of the plant, then they go to another one where they will only eat leaves, then move to another one where they will eat on the branches, then they will move on another they will eat only the flowers, then they will move to another one where they will eat only the stem and another one like that until they get satisfied. This kind of eating behavior supports plants growth and recovery in a very short time thus giving more food to mountain gorillas throughout the year. Babies of the mountain gorillas from the age of 0-4 years are fed on breast milk until they are able to feed themselves on the plant food of flowers, leaves, fruits, stems among others.

The lowland gorillas: these are bigger than the mountain gorillas due to what they feed on, size and natural environment. The lowland gorillas in Africa are found in Kahuzi Biega national park in the democratic republic of Congo. The lowland gorillas are bigger than the mountain gorillas in size and they feed mostly on wild fruits that are easily got during the dry season. These fruits fall down in plenty but also the lowland gorillas are found of climbing trees so as they can pick these fruits in plenty plus their seeds.

When is the best time to visit gorillas?

The gorillas in all the national parks of Africa where they are found are open for gorilla tourism any time of the year provided travelers have acquired a gorilla trekking permit. However for all the national parks the best to visit is during the dry season since they are dominated by tropical rain forests that receive rainfall throughout the year. But during the dry season there is little rainfall that is expected to destruct your visit to the gorilla family as you will enjoy observing their feeding pattern of life for one in the jungle. This is during the month of December to February and June to mid-October when the ground is not wet and slippery thus it’s easy to move and find the gorilla family, when the roads leading to the gorilla destination are passable as in they are not muddy and slippery to hinder the movement of the vehicles.

In conclusion, whether lowland gorillas or mountain gorillas, they are not only known as vegetarians but they are herbivores animals in nature, they don’t feed on fresh of meat but rather they enjoy eating plant tree flowers, fruits, roots, stems, tree shrubs and tree leaves depending on the location of their natural habitat. 2% of their feeding involves eating ants, termites, caterpillars other insects just for the purpose of acquiring proteins but their feeding is mostly on plants and they feed in large quantities that why it is very hard to keep them in captivity.