Mountain Gorilla Reproduction

Mountain Gorilla Reproduction

Mountain Gorilla Reproduction: A baby gorilla weighs about 1.8 kg , and just like humans spends the first few months in direct contact with the mother. It frequently rides on her mother’s back. Baby gorillas begin to walk at about 5 months,  and start eating plants by 6 months . By 8 months its begins to eat and digest solid food very well.

Weaning is usually at 3 years through juveniles may remain with the mothers for the next few years. Gorillas are considered infants at the age of up to three and juveniles from the age between three and six then sub adults up to 8 years. Young male gorillas are black backs and are sexually immature from the age of 8 until 11 years when they develop into silver backs.

Female gorillas ovulate at the age of 8 and can have their first baby between the age of 10 and 12. Male gorillas do not have any sexual developments and involvements until the age of 15 when they begin to breed.

Gorillas are the largest ground-dwelling apes still roaming earth. They live in the forests of East and Central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two main species – The western and Eastern Gorilla. Each of these species are divided into two subspecies making it a total of four gorilla species – The western lowland gorilla, cross river gorilla, eastern lowland gorilla and mountain gorillas. You can read more about the types and subspecies of gorillas. Gorillas are the closest relatives to humans after bonobos and chimpanzees. They share about 98% of the human DNA. Gorillas are generally herbivores and feed on fruits, leaves and tree shoots in the dense forests of Africa.

Just like humans gorillas do not have a mating season and therefore child birth can occur all year through. The females have a menstrual cycle of  28 days with about 3 fertile days and ovulation doesn’t occur again up to until about 3-5 years after birth. Females usually have one baby once in about 6-8 years and may have just about 3-6 babies in their life span. The Mountain Gorilla has no mating season and females usually initiate mating behavior.

Males that possess about 3–4 females can father about 10-20 offspring over 50 years.