Difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee.
Difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee.
Difference between a gorilla and a chimpanzee. : Both gorillas and chimpanzees live in the jungles of Africa. They are both Great Apes. Many travelers, though, often confuse a gorilla for a chimpanzee or vice versa. Even though they may look the same in pictures or at first glance, these two primate types are very different. Therefore, we shall provide some of the ways they differ so that next time you are on a primate safari, you will be able to differentiate these two Great Apes like a pro. Some of the comparisons while being helpful in differentiating them from a far while others you might need to come little bit closer to identify.
Differences Between Gorillas and Chimpanzees: Both gorillas and chimpanzees are very interesting animals that people can see in national parks where they can go gorilla trekking or chimpanzee trekking safaris to learn more about how the animals act. When you go gorilla trekking in Africa, you will spend an hour with the endangered primate species in the wild. When you go chimpanzee trekking, you will also spend an hour getting to know more about the playful primate that spends half of its day eating and playing. Spending time with both primates will help you learn more about what makes each of them unique. You can also participate in gorilla habituation in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and chimpanzee habituation in Uganda in Kibale National Park which will help clarify how the primates are trained to get accustomed to human presence.
Gorilla trekking safari in Uganda can be carried out in Mgahinga national park by hiking the Virunga Mountains that are mount Sabyinyo, mount Gahinga and mount Muhabura and in Bwindi impenetrable national park where you can access the habituated Uganda families. For tourists who want to go gorilla trekking in Rwanda, volcanoes national park is the place to go. You will hike the Virunga Mountains like mount sabyinyo, mount Gahinga, mount Muhabura, mount Bisoke, and mount Karisimbi to get to the habituated gorilla families. If you want to go gorilla trekking in Congo, you can do it in Virunga National Park and Kahuzi Biega National Park.
Physical Description.
Compared to chimpanzees, gorillas are pretty big animals. This is shown by their broad chests, big heads, long arms, and flat noses. Chimpanzees, on the other hand, have long arms but short legs and pink faces. As gorillas age, they lose hair on their faces, hands, feet, and breasts. All of the eastern gorillas, including mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas, have black fur. However, the back fur of adult males is light grey to white, giving them a silvery look. This is why they are called “silver backs” at around 13 years old. On the other hand, chimpanzees get white hair when they get old between the ages of 1 and 29, but this is not a sign that they are getting older.
Classification.
While gorillas and Chimpanzees are both Great Apes, the former belongs to Gorillini tribe and Gorilla Genus while the latter is part of the Hominini tribe as well as Pan Genus.
It is obvious that humans are extremely related to these primates but the chimpanzees share more DNA with mankind (98.7%) compared to the Gorillas that share 98.2% only.
Body size and strength.
When put next to each other, you can see that gorillas are heavier than chimpanzees by 150 to 300 pounds, while chimpanzees only weigh 50 to 150 pounds. Gorillas are also bigger, at 4 to 6 feet, while chimpanzees are only 3 to 5 feet tall. In this way, their amounts of strength also change. Gorillas are one of the largest animals on Earth. They can eat between 18 and 30 kilogrammes of food every day, which is why they have such big bodies.
In fact, gorillas are the biggest members of the Ape family. They are 10 times bigger and stronger than humans, which is a surprise.
Body features.
Gorillas have bigger heads and more muscle. Their bodies are wider and their arms are longer. Chimpanzee ears are bigger and stick out from their heads, while gorilla ears are smaller and point to the back of their heads.
The colour of their faces is also different. Chimpanzees have red faces, while gorillas’ faces are darker.
Diet.
Even though gorillas and chimpanzees are both Great Apes, the food they eat will be interesting to you. Gorillas are mostly herbivores. They eat things like leaves, stems, fruits, flowers, tree bark, and bamboo shoots. This is very different from chimps, which are omnivores.
They eat leaves, fruits, flowers, and sometimes even small animals, like monkeys. This behavior hasn’t been seen in gorillas who instead consume insects to supplement their diet.
Levels of intelligence.
Both gorillas and chimpanzees are smart, but chimpanzees are much smarter than gorillas. When you see them on one of the Uganda primate safaris, you’ll be amazed by how smart they are. They are more closely related to humans than other animals, and their brains are bigger for their body weight.
Friendliness.
Chimpanzees and gorillas are both social primates, which you can see for yourself on one of our primate trips. However, chimpanzees are more social, friendly, and welcoming, and they will pay more attention to you. Gorillas, on the other hand, are quiet and shy, and they like to go about their daily lives.
Geographical location and nature of habitats.
These Great Apes live in the dense rainforests of Africa. Because they are protective and territorial, they can’t live in the same home area.
Gorillas, on the other hand, live in much more remote places than their cousins, who can live in places with less dense greenery, like forested savannahs. This isn’t possible with the gorillas that occupy the humid rainforests, most cases in isolated locations.
One subspecies of gorillas, the mountain gorillas, for example, live in dense rainforests on mountains. This makes it harder to track gorillas than chimps.
Chimpanzees like to build their nests in trees, while gorillas like to build theirs on the ground. Chimpanzees live in bigger groups of up to 40 people.
Life span.
When you compare the length of a gorilla’s life to that of a chimpanzee’s, you’ll see that the chimpanzee lives longer. In captivity, chimps live between 50 and 60 years, compared to 50 years on average in the wild. In the wild, the average life span of a gorilla is 45 years.
Female gorillas start having babies when they are 10 to 12 years old, but female chimps don’t start having babies until they are 13 to 15 years old. Overall, female chimpanzees give birth to more offspring in a lifetime even when their gestation periods are the same.
Social Heirachy.
The social structure and order of gorillas and chimpanzees are very different. For example, the adult silverback is the leader of the gorilla family. He is in charge of the group as a whole and has exclusive mating rights with the adult females. The chimpanzees on the other hand the chimpanzees live an attractive much extended family which comprises of very many families and in the group the females on heat can mate with almost every adult male of the group which is not the case for the gorillas. It’s also important to know that the alpha male is much stronger than the females, but the alpha female is much stronger than the other females in the group.
