Latin name: Gorilla gorilla gorilla

Giant of the Primates!

• It is the largest primate! A male can weigh 275 kg (600 lbs)! The female is usually almost half the size.

• It has an imposing muscular frame. Some scientists say that the physical strength of an adult male, a silverback, is equivalent to that of 10 humans, some have even put forward that it is over 20!

• It has an excellent sense of smell: it can detect the odor of a human more than 20 meters away...inside a tropical forest!

• This large primate only eats vegetation! Leaves, fruit, seeds, flowers and roots are part of its daily menu, and even clay occasionally, for the minerals. Meat is excluded from its diet.

• Its two greatest threats are hunting and the Ebola virus. The creation of access to remote forests allows poachers to reach them more easily. For its part, the virus that moves through a population can decimate 95% of its members.