Who is the Cross River Gorilla?

The Cross River Gorilla is a subspecies of the Western Gorilla. When standing, they are up to 5 feet tall and can weigh up to 440lbs.

They live in family settings, with up to 40 individuals. Usually a male member dominates the family structure. Females generally have long pregnancies, up to 8.5 months, and take care of their young for many years. This causes them to have babies every 4-6 years, which contributes to slow population growth.

Their distribution is shown above, they reside mostly in Western African.

 They live in the forested hills and mountains of the Cameroon-Nigeria border region at the headwaters of the Cross River, which is where the name Cross River Gorilla comes from.

Being mainly vegetarians, their diet consists of stems, bamboo shoots, fruit and occasionally, termites and ants.