Harambe and the Western Lowland Gorillas

The recent event in the news involving the killing of Harambe, a western lowland gorilla, inspired me to learn more about these critically endangered species and learn about why they are so endangered. Western Lowland Gorillas (scientific name: Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla) live in swamps and forests in central Africa in countries including Cameroon, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. They are the smallest species of gorilla but still have excellent size and strength. An average male gorilla is about 400 pounds and stands at 5-6 feet. An average female gorilla is 200 pounds and stands at 5 feet. These Gorillas are mostly herbivores and their main diet consists of pith, shoots, and leaves. Fruit is also a main part of their diet. The kind of fruit varies according to the seasonal availability. When food is scarce they also eat termites and weaver ants.

A majestic western lowland Gorilla in the wild

Western lowland gorillas live in group with an around 4-8 gorillas. They are not known for being overly territorial and often groups of gorillas with overlap in their habitat range. Within the family of gorillas there is a social structure that determines how much power you have in the group. The leader of the group is the alpha male of the group that leads the gorillas in activities like eating, nesting, and moving about the home range. The alpha male is often called a silverback because of the silver hair on him that would otherwise be black. If another male in the group wants to challenge the alpha he has to show signs of physical power, for example, standing upright, throw things, make aggressive charges, and pound his chest while unleashing a frightening roar (scary huh). The females job in the group is to take care of the young. They will give birth to one baby after carrying it for about nine months. The infant is tiny when it's born, it weighs an average of 4 pounds. It will cling to its mothers back from the time is it 4 months till it's about 2 or 3 years old. Baby gorillas are just like us kids because they love to play, climb, and chase each other! They also have amazing intelligence and some have even been taught simple sign language while in captivity. 

Wild mother Gorillas showing their babies some love 

The gorilla population is being threatened because of habitat lose due to deforestation. Another major threat is being hunted and poached by humans. Both these factors have had a devastating effect on the gorilla population and they are classified as critically endangered species with an estimated 95,000 gorillas still left in the jungles of africa. One of the reasons people were so outraged by the Harambe killing was because these animals are so endangered. There were a lot of different opinions regarding what people should do about the death of the Harambe and who should be held accountable.  They believe his death was unjust and not fair to Harambe. People were outraged that an animal had to die because of the carelessness of a human. Another article I read (clink the link here!) talked about how Harambe's death didn't have to do with the individual as much as it did the whole population. One gorilla won't save the critically endangered population as whole, so instead of focusing on this one gorilla people should focus their efforts on helping the whole population. We don't see it, but these gorillas die all the time due to poaching and deforestation. People should focus their attention on trying to raise awareness to stop gorilla hunting instead of being completely outraged about one gorilla. Don't get me wrong Harambe's death was tragic but I think focusing on helping the population as a whole would do more for the gorillas rather than just helping one. Hopefully an incident like this does not occur again and there can be a better future for the western lowland gorillas.   

A family of wild Gorillas

Thanks for reading!