Mountain Gorilla Food
Mountain gorilla food, gorillas are vegetarians (depending largely on the bamboo shoots, fruits, and stems) and their food is determined by the nature of their habitat or season. Being forest dwellers, they feed on 3 distinct fruits, 142 species of plants. Approximately 86 percent of mountain gorilla diet comprise of stems, shoots, leaves while 7 percent is mainly roots, 3 percent flowers, 2 percent fruit. Mountain gorillas also depend on snails, grubs, and ants that make up 2%. Book Now
During the dry season, mountain gorillas depend more on tree bark and seeds. The dry season normally starts in the months of June, July, August, September, and December, January, February. It is characterized by low rainfall and there is no much forage for these creatures to consume thus making them roam to longer distances to search for what to feed on.
Mountain gorilla food comes in plenty during the wet season, this is characterized by heavy rainfall and this supports plant growth. The wet/rainy season starts in the months of March-May and October-November. During the wet/rainy season, more green plants grow thus offering plenty of forage for these great apes to enjoy.
Each day, a mature mountain gorilla consumes approximately 30 kilograms of food and females take about 18 kilograms. They rarely take water the fact that they feed on succulent plants. They also eat a lot of soil to help break down the poisonous substances in the food. Besides, the soil has minerals that are not in the food these creatures feed on each day. The feeding process usually starts early in the morning and a group of mountain gorillas is led by a dominant silverback. The dominant silverback determines where the group will go to feed. In the afternoon, they rest and resume eating afterward till evening when they make new nests to sleep.
Mountain gorillas process food first by chewing. Their teeth are the same as those of human beings and the only difference is that they have long pointed canines. However, they do not use canine teeth for feeding except only for biting their colleagues or when defending themselves from enemies. Mountain gorillas have strong muscles that help them to break or pull vegetation, bamboo shoots, fruits, and others.
Mountain gorillas are massive creatures on earth and they dwell in only Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In Uganda, they are tracked in only Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga National Park which is set in the southwest; in Rwanda, it is only in Volcanoes National Park and Virunga National Park in eastern DR Congo.
We urge you to get on a road round trip to visit Rwanda, The land of a thousand hills from this famous remote place which is home to the mountain gorillas to Akagera Rwanda Park, Central Africa’s largest protected wetland. After being hunted to local extinction, lions and black rhinos were successfully reintroduced to the park and populations are now thriving or visit Nyungwe forest for an opportunity to see chimpanzees and trek to Isumo waterfall. Stop in Rwanda’s three incredible national parks, do the game drives, do primate tracking excursions, or get on a scenic helicopter ride.
