Western Lowland Gorilla

Gorilla gorilla gorilla

IUCN Status: Critically endangered

Howletts has led the way in breeding this wonderful species and, working with The Aspinall Foundation, has successfully reintroduced gorillas born at Howletts to protected forests at the conservation charity’s flagship project in Africa.

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There are two different gorilla species, separated from one another by the inner Congo Basin.  Each species has two subspecies: the Western lowland gorilla, divided into the Western lowland gorilla and cross river gorilla, and the Eastern gorilla, which is divided into the mountain gorilla and the Eastern lowland gorilla

Western lowland gorillas live in dense forest and they are almost entirely vegetarian, however they will occasionally eat a small portion of insects.

Gorilla numbers have been decimated in the wild by hunters and habitat destruction.  There are only around 95,000 Western lowland gorillas in the wild and their numbers are in rapid decline.