Wild animals

Do Gorillas eat Bananas?

do gorillas eat banana

Gorillas do eat bananas and this is the focus of this article, but before we will go into the details that surrounds that, it is necessary to share a few details of the gorilla.

Gorillas are mostly herbivorous animals that belong to the family of great apes. Like many great apes, gorillas mostly live in Africa because of the climate and vegetation of the place. Africa has a lot of tropical forests, mountains, thick forests, thick bushes, and jungles.

However, gorillas belong to a genus that is divided into two different species. These two species are the eastern gorillas and the other one is the western gorillas; these two different species of gorillas have between four to five other subspecies each.

More so, scientists have said that gorillas have between ninety-five percent to ninety-nine percent of the human DNA which scientists say means that they have similar DNA with humans, although they also say that the similarities are depending on what is added during the DNA tests. Apart from the species of gorillas, the bonobos and the chimpanzees are members of the great ape family, and they also have similar DNA as humans.

Researches have shown that the largest primates that live on planet earth are the gorillas, with a height of between one point two five meters and one point eight meters (1.25-1.8 meters) and has a weight of between one hundred pounds to four hundred pounds, (the males weigh three hundred pounds or four hundred pounds, and the females weigh one hundred pounds or two hundred pounds and above).

Also, gorillas are very huge as their arms are about two point six meters long (2.6 meters) although this is largely dependent on the species of the gorilla and if the gorilla in particular is male or female.

The eastern gorillas are easily distinguished from the western gorillas by their colours. Apart from a few differences in the physical appearance of the species western gorillas and the species of the eastern gorillas, the species of the eastern gorillas have furs that are darker. However, the species of western gorilla naturally live in groups, like they inhabit together in troops, and the leader of the troop is identified as the silverback.

What do Gorillas feed on?

The different species of gorillas as well as their subspecies need food to survive just like other living things. However, what gorillas feed on are different as it largely depends on the species of gorilla, as well as their locations. Gorillas are quite huge, that its why is necessary for us to know what they really feed to garner all the weight and muscles that they have. So we will explore some of the things that the species of gorillas feed on and possibly why they feed on those things.

We have earlier enlisted some of the places the two species of gorillas and their subspecies inhabit, and some of those places will be mentioned especially the areas where there is a disparity in what the animals feed on.

What do Gorillas feed on in the Wild?

All animals are either domesticated or in the wild, and some may not exactly be in the domesticated or wild, but they could be kept in wild reserves for a conservation from being endangered. The diet of the different species of gorillas while in the wild are different.

While in the wild, the species of gorillas in the wild are dependent on the vegetation available to these species in the wild. More so, the kind of vegetation the species of gorillas feed on while in the wild is usually determined by the climate at the time; that is the times and the seasons prevalent in the wild.

This happens because not all the plants in the forests are really evergreen, so the vegetation changes with the season and in the same vein, as the vegetation of the wild changes, the diet of the gorilla changes with the change in the vegetation and the change in the season. The species of gorilla and their subspecies that live in the wild also feed on insects or rather animals that do not have any back bones like the ants, the termites, the grubs, the larvae, the caterpillars, and other animals that do not have any back bone.

What do the gorillas eat while in the rainforest?

The species of the gorilla in the rainforest have a diet that is slightly different. For instance, while in the rainforest, the species of gorillas and the subspecies of the gorillas feed on bamboo. They eat other things and vegetation there in the rainforest, but they feed more on the bamboo. In the rainforest the gorillas feed on the seeds of bamboo, the stem of the bamboo, the leaves of the bamboo, the pith of bamboo, the berries of bamboo, and every other part of the bamboo trees.

Gorillas in the rainforest equally feed on the stem, leaves, roots, bark, pith, and other parts of any other tree in the wilderness. They also feed on insects like the ant, the larvae, and the termites of various invertebrates (that is animals without back bones) like we already mentioned earlier. The climate has an effect on the vegetation in the rainforest, however the effect of the climate is not too much on the vegetation, neither does it affect the diet of the rainforest that much.

This is basically because in the rainforest; especially the thick rainforest, most of the trees are evergreen because it is really chilly and there is usually the presence of the dew that makes it possible for the vegetation to flourish, so the change in climate does not necessarily affect the vegetation because most of the times the climate stays the same that even little changes are not necessarily observed.

What do the gorillas eat while in the zoo?

Interestingly, one of the preceding sections of this article stated that there are animals that could be reared in the farms or backyards at home (and they are called domestic animals or tamed animals) for subsistence reasons or for commercial purposes, then there are animals who are untamed (the wild animals that are not used to having humans around them, and are often aggressive) these category of animals are very free exploring nature and all there is that nature has for them in the wild.

And then there are those animals that are usually caught and put in an environment that is meticulously designed to be an imitation of a real wild zone. Now, the zoo is one of such places designed to imitate the imitation of the wild, sometimes the zoo is just designed to be habitable for the different kinds of animals and the different species of these animals. More so, animals are put in places like the zoo to prevent them from getting endangered and then prevented from going extinct.

So while in the zoo, the species of gorillas and their subspecies feed on a different diet. They feed on things like a high fiber primate biscuits that is exclusively made for the herbivore.  They also feed on a lot of fruits, they feed on different kinds of nuts and on eggs, the gorillas in the zoo also feed on very green leafy vegetables, as well as on other vegetables that are not very leafy.

Apart from drinking water to quench thirst, the species of gorillas that find themselves in the zoo are also giving liquids like herbal teas, or liquids that are extracted from sugarcane. Sometimes they are given the sugarcane just as it is to eat.

Species of the gorillas in the zoo are fed a whole lot of things but these feeds are properly portioned in a way that it is nutritious and very healthy for these animals. More so, they are usually fed according to their health requirements as prescribed by the vet doctor.

Conclusion

Gorillas feed on a lot of fruits and some of these fruits include fruits like apples, tomatoes, bananas, guavas, sugarcane, and a whole lot of other fruits and vegetables. However, not all gorillas eat bananas, and it is not because they do not want to eat bananas. The species of gorillas who eat bananas a lot are those species in the zoo, and also some of the subspecies of the western gorilla.

What this simply means is that the various species of gorillas that do not eat bananas do so because it is not available in their environment, and so when it is available to them, they will also eat it without any form of hesitation. So technically, gorillas eat bananas a lot and it is not a myth.

We could have shared why gorillas eat bananas but that will be as good as asking why do animals eat food, and the reverse title would have been why do gorillas not eat bananas but even without any further thoughts, those questions have been attempted and clearly answered here. Bananas are too nutritious for gorillas to miss out from eating them.