Until recently, gorillas were considered to be a single species, with three subspecies: the western lowland gorilla, the eastern lowland gorilla and the mountain gorilla. Colo, a female western gorilla at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, was the oldest known gorilla at 60 years of age when she died on 17 January 2017.

Nonhuman great apes are endowed with semiprecision grips, and have been able to use both simple tools and even weapons, such as improvising a club from a convenient fallen branch. By emitting pheromones, individuals can convey information about their health, reproductive status, and identity.

Apes are being killed primarily to supply high-end demand for meat in urban centers, where the consumption of ape meat is considered to be prestigious amongst the wealthy elite. The closest relatives of gorillas are the other two Homininae genera, chimpanzees and humans, all of them having diverged from a common ancestor about 7million years ago. Most mountain gorillas live in stable family groups of around 10 individuals, with one dominant male and several females. An unusual exercise– doing something new could be just what’s needed to reignite your back-building progress.

In the literary classic Planet of the Apes, gorillas rule a distant world where they serve roles such as military, police, and hunters. Eastern gorillas tend to be larger than the western species, adult male eastern gorillas weigh up to 484 pounds and females weigh up to 215 pounds. Mountain gorillas live in montane forests at the higher end of the elevation range, while eastern lowland gorillas live in submontane forests at the lower end. Because they consume a large amount of vegetation, which is compromised of almost half water as well as morning dew, gorillas rarely need to drink water. In Central Africa, humans depend on the same environment as gorillas for their food, water, medicine, and other forest products.

Western lowland gorillas have less access to terrestrial herbs, although they can access aquatic herbs in some areas. The DNA of gorillas is highly similar to that of humans, from 95 to 99% depending on what is included, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos.