Mountain Gorilla Vs Chimpanzee
In the viridescent National parks of Uganda dwell the primate species of the two famous great apes; chimpanzees and Mountain gorillas. Amazingly, they are both endangered animals. Both have strong arms, long, toes, and grasping fingers. Additionally, both gorillas and chimpanzees are intelligent animals and are humans’ closest living relatives with a 96% DNA similarity and well, join me on this journey of discovering how these two great apes differ;
Appearance
The chimpanzees are smaller in size compared to the Mountain gorilla which is normally two times or three times larger. Mountain gorillas have more pronounced arms, muscles and chests compared to the chimpanzees whose arms, muscles and chest are less pronounced. The gorillas’ faces are black and the chimpanzees’ faces are pink.
Strength
In terms of strength, the chimpanzees are not as strong as the mountain gorillas and an adult chimpanzee weigh between 40 to 70 kg while an adult mountain gorilla weighs between 199 to 260 kg and mostly use their strength to defend themselves.
Intelligence
Though the chimpanzees are smaller in size compared to mountain gorillas, they have bigger brains that they tend to use in times of defense rather than the mountain gorillas hence making them more intelligent than the gorillas. This makes the chimpanzees more canning and tricky animals than the mountain gorillas.
Life Span
Chimpanzees are said to live a much shorter lifespan of an average of 16 years compared to the mountain gorilla whose lifespan can go up to 37 years.
Ground Time
Chimpanzee spend considerable amount of time up on tress compared to mountain gorillas that spend most of their time on ground.
Gestation period
Initially like I said these primates have 96% DNA similarity to human beings. Just like human beings the mountain gorillas and chimpanzees have one offspring at a time. The mountain gorillas are pregnant for 8.5 months and the chimpanzees are pregnant for 8 months. The scientists’ researchers say a female chimpanzee can have one baby in 5years well as a female mountain gorilla can have one baby in two years.
Food
These primates are basically herbivores that feed on leaves, fruits and stems but chimpanzees tend to feed on smaller animals in the forests. The gorillas are typically herbivores.
The above are the main differences between Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees.
You can track these apes and get to send time in their presence while observing and enjoying their company in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park and Kibale National Park respectively at a cost of 700USD for foreign non-residents,600USD for foreign residents and 250,000UGX for the East African Community.
Allow us plan this thrillingly amazing trip for you
