Gorillas are big, quiet, gentle apes that live in Africa. Although gorillas are often portrayed as dangerous aggressive killers, they are in fact vegetarians. Because of large loss of habitat, these magnificent primates are in grave danger of going extinct.

There are 3 subspecies of gorillas still in Africa. The differences between them are hard to notice, the 3 subspecies are.

· Western Lowland Gorilla (gorilla gorilla) · Eastern Lowland Gorilla (gorilla graueri) · Mountain Gorilla (gorilla berengei)

Like other differences between animal species the differences between the mountain and lowland gorilla are the result of their adaptation to the souroundings they live in, the high altitude of the mountain gorilla necessitate longer body hair for added warmth, higher foreheads, larger nostrils to aid breathing at high altitudes, broader chests to enclose the larger lungs, they also have shorter arms, shorter, wider hands and feet possibly as a result there being less dense forest at the higher altitude.

Extensive efforts have been made to attempt to ensure the survival of the gorilla in the wild but the loss of habitat and poaching is a cause of worry, gorilla numbers are only approximate but the 3 species have only 15,000 - 30,000 animals surviving.

The breakdown between species is along the lines of

Western gorillas- A total of approximately 10,000-25,000 in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and Zaire.

Eastern gorillas - A total of approximately 4,000, in eastern Zaire.

Mountain gorillas - A total of approximately 620 in 285, and becoming less everyday, square miles in the rain forests of Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire.

Gorillas are pack animals in as much as they live in social groups of 2 - 30, in a typical social group you will find 1 dominant mature silverback and he is the leader of the group, there are three to four adult females, one immature silverback, an immature male and three to six youngsters below the age of 8.

To reduce fighting within the social group the males usually leave after sexual maturity and start their own social group, although Occasionally a challenge is made to the dominant alpha male for dominance of the social group, this can lead to one of the gorillas being forced out of the social group.

The gorillas only predator is man, this should be good news as you would assume that we would say lets protect these gentle animals and help them survive but the problem is we are felling the habitat they are living in and poachers are killing them too.

Some forward thinking groups are attempting to help halt this, money is the main driver behind the clearance of the habitats, so using the land for echo tourism is a great way to ensure the local populations to preserve the land and animals that live on it.

What eco tourism aims to do is encourage people to see the gorillas and other animals in their own habitat and educate and inspire these visitors to spread the word about the amazing experience and the danger these gorillas are in.

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