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GOOD GORILLA MANNERS

Rwanda, Africa

Featured in Gorillas Revisited from 2006

Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)

Fab fact

Sigourney Weaver journeys back to Rwanda to visit the family of gorillas she first met on the set of Gorillas in the Mist, 20 years ago. Watch as she employs some of her gorilla etiquette techniques to refamiliarise herself with the family. This amazing clip is taken from the BBC Natural History documentary series, Gorillas Revisited.

RELATED INFORMATION

Common name

Mountain gorilla

Species name

Gorilla beringei beringei

ARKive fact

The largest of the living apes, male silverback gorillas can reach a height of up to 1.7 metres.

Conservation status

Endangered

Distribution

The best known of the eastern gorillas, the mountain gorilla, is found in two isolated populations. One is in the Virunga Volcanoes region, situated on the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The other occurs in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda. The eastern lowland gorilla is found only in eastern DRC, and is significantly more abundant than the mountain gorilla.

Habitat

The eastern gorilla inhabits tropical forest. Mountain gorillas are found at altitudes between 1,160 and 4,100 metres while eastern lowland gorillas occur between 600 and 2,900 metres above sea level.