Bwindi Forest Gorillas

[Pertinax]

I watched a T.V. Programme last night and at the end there was some footage of the 'Mountain Gorillas' in the Bwindi Forest in Uganda. First film I have seen of them, though I've seen plenty of still photos.

I was again struck how dissimilar these are to the 'hairy' Virunga Volcano Gorillas. The Bwindi Gorillas have short hair and longer faces, more like the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in their appearance. Should they even still be classified as 'G.g. beringei' along with the Virunga volcano Gorillas? The two populatons are currently classified together but I think I shall regard only the Virunga population as 'true' 'mountain' Gorillas after seeing this.

 

[Mr T]

was the programme 'Vet Adventures' by any chance? I thought the gorilla shown was rather short haired too especially compared to to Virunga gorillas. Shame really they didn't show the rest of the group to get a good comparison.

 

[Pertinax]

was the programme 'Vet Adventures' by any chance? I thought the gorilla shown was rather short haired too especially compared to to Virunga gorillas. Shame really they didn't show the rest of the group to get a good comparison.

it was indeed. The adult male was very short-haired on the head and body too. I know they are much like this from stills I've seen too though females seem to have hairer bodies. I think they live at much lower elevations. I believe they have been described as having a 'mix' of the characteristics of 'beringei' (Mountain) and 'graueri' (eastern Lowland). They look more like the latter to me. However they are currently always included in the population statistics for 'Mountain Gorillas' i.e. it would be about half what it is, if they weren't.

 

[siamang27]

I have seen them listed as "Gorilla berengei sp." on some primate lists. Surprised that it has no actual full name yet...