What do Mountain Gorillas Eat?

Posted on: March 29th, 2016 by gorillaadmin No Comments

mountain-gorilla-eatWhat mountain gorillas eat actually depends on where they stay as well as the time of the year.  Gorillas majorly feed on parts of green plants plus so many fruits. But, during the dry season there are fewer juicy fruits so they resort to eating seeds as well as tree bark. Because most of the fruits are high up in the trees, the gorillas have to climb to harvest them. Despite the fact that the gorillas eat a high proportion of fruits compared to leaves, shoots and stems, when compared to chimpanzees, gorillas consume less fruits.

When it comes to the western gorillas their food range is actually broad as they feed on nearly 200 different plant species. In particular they enjoy plants that belong to the arrowroot and ginger families. However, the mountain gorillas living in Uganda, Rwanda as well as the D.R.C eat fewer types of plant species and enjoy fewer varieties of fruits due to their scarcity in the higher altitude. 86% of their diet plan are stems, leaves and shoots, whereas roots make up 7%, flowers 3% and then fruits make up just 2% just as ants, grubs and snails.

An adult gorilla male is believed to consume over 25kg of plants each day, and an adult female over 15kg. Thanks to their strong muscles in the mouth, they are able to chew all this large amount of plant materials. They have strong teeth with pointed canines especially in the adults. Actually hose are used for fighting among the adult males but not feeding.

Besides plants, they also occasionally eat soil. Maybe this soil contains some useful minerals that aren’t in the plants. These minerals counteract the poisonous substances they ingest in their food.

Methods Gorillas use to Collecting Food
  • Gorillas use their remarkable strength to tear apart their vegetation. A fully grown male for instance can tear apart an entire banana plant simply to get the soft pith interior.
  • Gorillas are extremely picky foragers that don’t eat all but part of vegetation. For instance they may consume the leaves, pith, roots or stalks of a specific plant. Gorillas use their agile lips along with their hand skills to obtain the particular part of the plants they eat.
  • Gorillas don’t over-exploit an area for food. They simply crop the plants in a way that permits fast replenishment to happen.
  • Gorillas have actually been documented to use the hair on the back-side of their hands to soak up water which they eventually suck.

To learn more about the gorillas, it would be best if you met them during a gorilla trip in Uganda or Rwanda.
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