Gorilla gorilla gorilla
||Fewer than 200,000
|Where they live:
Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic
Western gorillas are smaller than their eastern cousins - although males still weigh up to 180kg (28st 4lb) - and often have much redder or greyer fur. Adult males have striking chestnut fur on their head and neck, and the characteristic fur on their back extends further down their thighs givin them a more full-bodied silver look.
Western lowland gorillas live in family groups led by the dominant silverback, but unlike eastern gorillas, the group will often split up during the day, coming back together at night to nest. Like all gorillas, they are largely heribvorous, but western gorillas are particularly fond of fruit, which makes up most of their diet when available. They also eat leaves, shoots, bark, ants and other insects.
||Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List: A4cde ver 3.1)
||Widespread throughout west and central Africa
||Habitat loss, hunting for bushmeat, disease (especially the Ebola virus), logging
Until recently, conservationists were less concerned about the long-term future of the western lowland gorilla as their vast forest home created a natural boundary between them and their human neighbours. But as the logging industry engulfs the forest, bringing roads, hunters and disease, the western lowland gorillas' long-term future has been thrown into uncertainty.
Unlike their eastern cousins, western gorillas are hunted for bushmeat, and in recent years the spread of the Ebola virus has devastated the gorilla population.