Gorilla Diet
The Proper Gorilla Diet: What’s In It?
For the gorilla, diet is the most important and telling part of their day. They forage for miles each and every day, in groups of three to thirty, nesting in a new place each night and venturing on by early morning. Gorilla diet is as diverse as the creatures are themselves, and consists of particular foods that are available to each subspecies based on the region in which they live. The western lowlands gorilla diet is perhaps the least varied, as they consume parts of only 43 plants and about 4 types of fruits. They will also partake in seeds, shoots, caterpillars, ants, and grubs. The need for protein is met by ingesting these insects, as the better part of the gorilla diet is comprised of juicy vegetation with plenty of water in it, but not a wide array of nutrients.
The interesting thing about the gorilla in the wild is how utterly intelligent and respectful they are about their environment, seemingly aware that they need to conserve the forest life for the future. Gorillas will not devastate any forest area, and always leave a particular area before it feels the strain of being harvested. Gorilla diet consists of only parts of plants, and they very rarely consume the entire leaf, pith, stem, stalk, and root of any particular plant. They pick one or two things on that plant that they feel they want or need, munch it down, and move along.
The foraging process is a rather long one, hardly organized but basically eventless. The gorillas of the group will spread out as individuals, a few yards away from one another, or as small clutches and amble through the wilds, picking what they want as they go. They are a large part of the forests’ health and well being, constantly forcing the vegetation to grow and replenish itself. Brief stops are made should a good ant stump or caterpillar pouch be discovered, and it is often comical to watch these smart primates cunningly fish out their live protein from holes in trees and underground.
The gorilla diet in the mountains is perhaps the most diverse, though there are only three fruits available to the mountain gorillas who live here. In these high elevations, the gorillas have about 114 plants to choose from, all of them plentiful and available year round. The average gorilla diet for an adult male consists of between 40 and 60 pounds of raw vegetation per day, though they can consume upwards of 200 pounds per day in some instances. Gorillas are not hunters, though the cross river subspecies has been observed catching small invertebrates for added protein and a bit of sport.