Gorilla beringei

Gorilla beringei is a great ape commonly called the eastern gorilla. They are larger than the western gorillas (G. gorilla), but otherwise similar, with a broad chest and shoulders, a large head, and a hairless, shiny black face. A full-grown adult male can weigh up to about 220 kg, and a full-grown adult female about half this.

Like all great apes, G. beringei lacks a tail, possesses forward-facing eyes with stereoscopic vision, a dry nose with downward-facing nostrils, a continuous upper lip, opposable 1st digits for grasping, and nails rather than claws.

Eastern Gorillas live in the mountainous forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda and southwest Uganda.

There are two main group of eastern gorillas: the eastern lowland gorilla and the mountain gorilla.

The Mountain Gorilla inhabits the dense, cloud-covered rain forests of the Virunga Volcanoes at elevations between 2,000-4,000 meters in the National Parks of Mhaginga and Bwindi (Uganda), Volcanoes (Rwanda) and Virunga (Democratic Republic of Congo).

The eastern lowland gorilla occurs only in eastern DRC, between the Lualaba River and the Burundi–Rwanda–Uganda border. Its distribution encompasses an area of about 90 000 km2, within which it is thought to occupy an estimated 15 000 km2 in four broad regions: the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the adjacent Kasese region; the Maiko National Park and adjacent forest; the Itombwe Forest; and North Kivu.

The Mountain Gorilla subspecies, has been listed as Critically Endangered since 1996.
Gorilla beringei