What Do Mountains Gorilla Eat?
Mountain Gorilla Diet
Mountain gorillas are herbivores beings, meaning their diet mainly consists of plants. In Bwindi Impenetrable National Park – the best gorilla trekking destination on the planet, a great variety of plants that the mountain gorillas feed on are over different plants species – edible for mountain gorillas.
Over 85% of the mountain gorilla diet consists of leaves, buds, seeds and stems of these plants. A common misconception about gorilla by gorilla trekking guests is that mountain gorillas eat lots of fruits like bananas and more. But due to the high altitude where the mountain gorillas live, there are almost no fruit trees thus resulting into only 2% of the gorilla’s diet consisting of fruits. Another notable thing about the mountain gorilla diet is edible roots that make up about 7% of their daily diet. Then the rest is supplemented by ants, snails and other small insects to take in the extra protein needed in their diet.
How Do Mountain Gorillas Drink?
Mountain gorillas rarely drink water as they obtain most of their hydration from leaves and other plants that are rich in water. Also, the morning dew is a supplement for their daily water intake. Also, because of the lower temperature due to altitude, their calm movements throughout the day make them not waste any water to sweat.
In the rare cases that a mountain gorilla drinks water, they use their hair to absorb the water which they can suck out for hydration.
How Much Food Do Mountain Gorillas Eat?
An adult female mountain gorilla can eat around 18 kilograms of food each day. Whereas a male silverback gorilla can eat up to 34 kilograms of food each day. Due to the bigger size which requires extra energy throughout the day, the male silverback gorilla can eat almost twice as much as the female gorilla.
Mountain gorillas are the largest primates in the world and because their food consists of low energy food such as leaves, stems, and buds it forces them to eat these huge amounts on a daily.
How Do Young Mountain Gorillas Eat?
Baby gorillas are born with no teeth and like other mammals, Newborn Mountain gorillas feed by drinking their mother’s milk for the first 3 months of their life. After the first three months young gorillas start being fed solid foods by their mother for the first 3 years of their life.
After that point they can begin eating the same diet as an adult mountain gorilla. At the age of 8 they can eat and digest all the food an adult mountain gorilla can.
Methods of Collecting Food in Mountain Gorillas
Mountain gorillas have incredible strength which they can use to break and open plants. Once the plant is opened they can use their fingers and teeth to get to the area of the plant they want to eat.
Mountain gorillas are distinctive eaters, they always eat parts of the plant and never the whole thing. As already mentioned their diet consists of leaves, buds, seeds and stems of a plant. Also, they have the incredible ability to agile their lips to only get to the area of the plant they want consume. Because a mountain gorilla doesn’t eat a whole plant they leave next to no impact on the environment around them. If a mountain gorilla has been consuming the leaves of one plant they will not eat the roots of that same plant but will eat one nearby.
In this way the plants can regrow and can be used for consumption by the gorillas in the future. Another way mountain gorillas conserve their environment is by not over eating in specific areas, this will allow the vegetation to quickly replenish. The way they drink water is by soaking the back of their hairy hand with water, which they will then suck out for hydration.
Mountain gorillas Eating Habits
Mountain gorillas spend about 30% of their day eating and 20% moving and looking for new food. A mountain gorilla’s first objective of the day is to find a spot full of fresh and nutritious plants to spend their morning eating and resting.
The dominant silverback leads the groups to an area with plenty of food so that the whole group can eat. The day of a mountain gorillas consists of 2 main eating times, 3 to 4 hours in the morning and after their midday rest an eating period in the late afternoon. During the heat of the day, they will rest and socially interact with each other.
Every family of mountain gorillas will eat in its own area entering another group’s area is rare and lead to fights as a silverback gorilla protects his own family and shows dominance to keep its females in his group.
How Are Mountain Gorillas so Strong While Being Herbivores
Mountain gorillas are the strongest and most impressive primates on earth, yet their diet mainly consists of vegetation. The question asked by many is how do they become so strong?.
As already noted, mountain gorillas eat massive amounts of food on a daily basis. This in combination with difficult movement throughout the Bwindi Forest, helps the gorillas develop their impressive bodies. However the main reason why gorillas have such a muscular and impressive body is because of their amazing DNA and bone structure. In particular their arm are made to be able to survive and move through this impenetrable rainforest.