Gorilla Research

Gorilla Genetics

View the 48 chromosomes of a gorilla and see the comparative karyotype of the great apes provided by Dr. Mariano Rocchi at the Istituto di Genetica in Italy. View gorilla chromosomes.

Gorilla Classification Debate

Until recently everyone agreed that there was only one species of gorilla, which was divided into three different subspecies. The western lowland gorilla (gorilla gorilla gorilla) was found in central and west Africa, the eastern lowland gorilla (gorilla gorilla grauerei) lived in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the mountain gorilla (gorilla gorilla berengei) was found in the Virunga volcanoes that straddle the borders of DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, with a smaller population in Bwindi, in Uganda.

However, in early 2000 the eastern and western populations of gorillas were declared to be two separate species. The western lowland gorilla was divided into two subspecies, with the Cross River gorilla (gorilla gorilla diehli) being distinguished from the rest of the western lowland gorillas (gorilla gorilla gorilla). There are only around 150 Cross River gorillas left in the wild, living in very fragmented habitat on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon. The term western gorilla that is used throughout this web site incorporates both these subspecies.

Gorilla Taxonomy

Gorillas are found in two widely separate parts of Africa. Western gorillas live in the West-Central African region: southwestern Central African Republic, Congo, Mayombe, Luanda, Gabon, Río Muni, southern Cameroon, southeastern Nigeria, and the Djabbir region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eastern gorillas live in the East-Central African region: eastern D. R. Congo, southwestern Uganda, northern Rwanda. Eastern and Western gorillas are somewhat different. How to classify them?

Cross River Gorillas - a Neglected Subspecies

Esteban E. Sarmiento and John F. Oates
Gorilla Journal 19, December 1999

In 1904, Paul Matschie, a pioneer in mammalian taxonomy working at the Humboldt University Zoological Museum in Berlin described a new species of gorilla inhabiting the watershed of the Cross River in what was then German Cameroon, close to the border of British-governed Nigeria. Matschie named the species Gorilla diehli in honor of Mr. Diehl, an employee of the German Northwestern Cameroon Company, who had collected the gorilla skulls on which Matschie based his new species. According to Matschie the 1) short skull, 2) short molar row, 3) palate shape, 4) and skull base shape distinguished Gorilla diehli as a new species separate from Gorilla gorilla.

read more

WCS-Congo: Mbeli Bai Gorilla Research

Mbeli Bai is a large swampy clearing of approximately 15 hectares which is situated in the southwest of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. The bai is a preferred feeding site for western lowland gorillas, who eat the aquatic herbs such as Hydrocharis chevalieri and Rynchospora corymbosa which dominate the bai. Pilot studies conducted in 1994 found that the area attracted large numbers of gorillas and full-time monitoring began in 1995.