Physical Description of a Gorilla

Physical Description of a Gorilla, During your gorilla safari in Rwanda or Uganda, you may be surprised by the massive size of these gorillas, particularly the silverbacks. The physical description of a gorilla is simply stunning.

Gorillas, the largest surviving primates, have stocky bodies, broad chests and shoulders, enormous hands, and forearms that are significantly shorter than the upper arm. The face is black and hairless, with small, close-set eyes and pronounced nostrils.

Adult males are distinguished by a sagittal crest along the midline of the skull and a patch of white hair on the back, thus the name’ silverbacks.‘

Eastern gorillas are the larger variety, with darker and longer fur, notably on the arms. Western lowland gorillas, on the other hand, have shorter gray or brown hair with a reddish tint on their heads.

To add to these variations, western silverbacks have lighter hair that reaches their thighs, as contrast to eastern gorillas, who have a more pronounced patch on their otherwise dark back.

Males are about twice as hefty as females and can grow to be 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) tall and weigh 135-220 kg (300-485 pounds) in the wild. Captive gorillas of both sexes can get quite fat and so become much heavier.

A wild adult female is normally around 1.5 meters tall and weighs between 70 and 90 kilograms. Gorillas have no hair on their faces, hands, or feet, and the chests of older males are bare.

Adult males have a large crest on top of the skull and a “saddle” of gray or silver hairs on the lower half of the back, giving rise to the epithet “silverback,” which is widely used to describe mature males.

Gorilla Trekking in Africa wishes you a wonderful encounter with the gorillas. If you have any questions about the physical description of a gorilla or even gorilla safari tours for both Uganda and Rwanda, please do not hesitate to contact us via email; we are ready to take you miles away to the jungle and meet the gentle giants in Uganda or Rwanda.