Gorilla An Endangered Primate By Grant Grade 5
http://worldwildlife.org/stories/7-gorilla-facts-you-should-know
Winter 2014
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TABLE OF CONTENT S Introduction
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Names
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Description
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Range and Population
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Dian Fossey
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Fun Facts
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Valued For
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King Kong
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Solutions
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Conclusion
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Bibliography
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Introduction ! Imagine you are walking through a dense African rainforest. Suddenly you hear a scuffling at your side. You have heard about the poachers in this forest. You do not want to run into one. Your guide tells you to be quiet. All of a sudden you see a big black figure walking across your path. You feel a soft push on your stomach as your guide tells you to move back. Out of the forest comes a mother gorilla with her baby on her back. While the parade of gorillas walk past you, your mouth hangs open.
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Names ! The scientific name of the gorilla is Gorilla gorilla. The two main species of gorilla are the Eastern lowland Gorilla and the Western lowland Gorilla.
http://worldwildlife.org/stories/7-gorilla-facts-you-should-know
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Description ! The gorillaʼs fur is dark brown to black. It has very large canines. The gorilla has no hair on its palms, the middle of its face, soles of its feet and a patch of its chest. It is closely related to the chimpanzee, the orangutan and the gibbon. They share 98.3% of their DNA with humans. The male gorilla is about 350 pounds and 6 feet tall while the female is about 154-250 pounds and 4 feet tall. Some of the prominent features of the gorilla are its fat face and smooshed nose. Female gorillas are fully mature when they are only 8 years old. The gestation period of a gorilla is about 8 1/2 months long. Their life span is about 40-50 years. The gorilla, like humans, can give birth at any time of year. A femalesʼ rank in the group may improve after she gives birth. The female gorilla will wait about 4 years until she gives birth again. The alpha male is called the “silverback.” Gorillas mostly eat bamboo but some times eat little fly or two.
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Habitat
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! Gorillas live in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. The two species are separated by the Congo River. The Western Lowland Gorilla sometimes live in swamps. They live in rain forests which supply most of their food.
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Range and Population The total number of gorillas left in the world is between 600-1,000. About 670 of them are Mountain gorillas (a subspecies).
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Threats ! There are a lot of threats to the gorilla. One way a gorilla can lose its habitat is threw war because they have to cut down the trees. Gorillas are also accidentally getting shot during war times. Another is needing more space for farmland. Slow reproduction is another factor for gorillas since they only have birth ever 4 years. Leopards are the only other non human predator. A common disease among gorillas is Ebola. For http://www.wildlifeextra.com/resources/listimg/world/Africa/gorilla_poached_esi@body2.JPG every one gorilla there are one million people.
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Dian Fossey Dian Fossey was a big help the gorillas because she would try to catch the poachers in the act. She was also an anthropologist. She started helping gorillas when a gorilla she was close to was killed. But her efforts went a little too far and one day she was murdered in her cabin. A lot of people think she was killed by poachers but no one knows for sure.
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Fun Facts ! For the gorilla, screams and roars tell other animals to back off. Belches mean contentment. And everyday sounds consist of grunts and barks. ! In captivity a gorilla named Koko learned sign language. Gorillas have been seen too use tools such as sticks to gauge the depth of water and rocks to crack food open. !
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Valued For ! Gorillas are often hunted for meat. People will pay a lot of money for a live gorilla. Some people will make ashtrays out of a gorilla hand. Gorillas are often killed by poachers. Sometimes poachers will kill the mom to get to the baby, which is more valuable. Gorillas sometimes will get caught in snares that are meant for other animals. Hopefully in the future people will not make them such a big deal to kill.
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King Kong ! The story of “King Kong” has changed peopleʼs opinion of gorillas and humans. After people have watched “King Kong” people have thought that gorillas were mean and harmful. But now, people have become more educated about gorillas and are not so afraid of them.
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Solutions ! I think that one way to help this endangered animal is to put fences around the national parks to keep poachers out or to have more guards around the parks. If people were to plant bamboo when a lot was eaten, the gorillas would have more food.
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Conclusion ! If people were to learn more about gorillas they would not be so afraid of them and try to help them. If people were to try to bring all the gorillas together they could mate to up the population. These are amazing animals so I hope people all around the world are working to save them such as WWF. I think their is still some hope for the gorilla. !
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BI BL I O G R A P H Y "Gorilla." Britannica School. EncyclopĂŚdia Britannica, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://school.eb.com/levels/elementary/article/353197>. "Gorilla." World Wildlife Fund. World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://worldwildlife.org/species/gorilla>. "Gorilla gorilla." Encyclopedia of Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://eol.org/pages/326447/overview>. Hatkoff, Juliana, et al. Looking for Miza: The True Story Of The Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One Of Their Own. Illus. Peter Greste. New York: Turtle Pond Publications LLC, 2008. Print. Kim, Melissa. The Mountain Gorilla. Illus. Ann Strugnell. Nashville: Ideals Children's, 1993. Print. Lewin, Ted, and Betsy Lewin. Gorilla Walk. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1999. Print. Sobol, Richard. Breakfast in the Rainforest: A Visit with Mountain Gorillas. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2008. Print. Stewart, Kelly J. Gorillas. Stillwater: Voyageur Press, 2003. Print. Taylor, Marianne. Mountain Gorilla. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2004. Print. Animals Under Threat.
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