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Western Lowland Gorilla
At Paignton Zoo we have two male gorillas that live in our Ape Centre: Kiondo and N’Dowe. You might recognise Kiondo as he played Jurgen on CBBC’s The Zoo!
These primates are incredibly intelligent, with complex emotions, and tend to have a more gentle and peaceful nature than other great ape species.
Class:
Mammals
Order:
Primates
Family:
Hominidae
About the western lowland gorilla
This gorilla subspecies inhabits tropical forests and lowland swamps in Central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo). The western lowland gorilla may be the smallest of the four gorilla subspecies, but they are still extremely powerful! An adult male can weigh as much as 250kg.
These great apes are vegetarians, meaning they have a herbivorous diet of fruit, shoots and tree bark. Our gorillas are fed a mixed diet of vegetables, pellet and browse.
Conservation
Western lowland gorillas are primarily threatened by human activities such as habitat destruction, hunting for their meat and capture for the wildlife trade. Their habitat destruction is associated with mining for coltan, a metallic ore used in mobile phones and electronics.
These great apes are classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Conservation education and ecotourism programmes are being developed to encourage the protection of gorillas within reserves across Central Africa. Our male gorillas are part of the EAZA ex-situ breeding programme (EEP) for the species.