The western gorilla is a great ape found in Africa, one of two species of the hominid genus Gorilla.
The gorilla's gestation period is about 8.5 months. It is difficult to tell if a female gorilla is pregnant since her stomach is large to begin with (for food digestion). However, some females have swollen knuckles temporarily during pregnancy.
Like humans, gorillas reproduce slowly, giving birth to only one baby at a time and then raising that infant for several years before giving birth again.
Gorillas normally have just one baby at a time. Twins in Gorillas are much rarer than in humans. Surprised keeper Wilco Limpers explained what he saw that morning.
Could we mate with other animals today? Probably not. Ethical considerations preclude definitive research on the subject, but it's safe to say that human DNA has become so different from that of other animals that interbreeding would likely be impossible.
Although it's hard to say anything with absolute certainty, human DNA is so different to even our closest relatives that interbreeding is probably impossible. Despite this, Gallup believes that it is possible to crossbreed humans with great apes, including gorillas and orangutans.
Roughly half of females reproduce in the group where they were born, resulting in the potential for them to reproduce with their fathers. However, the genetic analyses in this study found no evidence of father-daughter reproduction, although half siblings were observed to occasionally reproduce.
No, gorillas and chimpanzees cannot mate. The two species are evolutionarily too distant and their DNA is too dissimilar for a gorilla and a chimpanzee to produce offspring.
For them a close relationship with their father can be vital. He protects the infants and his care increases their chances of survival if their mother dies or if she leaves the group. In such a case the silverback male is usually the only one who looks after them intensively. He even allows them to sleep in his nest.
The Patient Pachyderm
Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world, so it's perhaps not surprising that they have the longest pregnancy of any living mammal: African elephants are pregnant for an average of 22 months, whilst for Asian elephants it's 18 to 22 months.
The study shows that the parents of 9 of the 79 offspring were related as at least half-brothers and half-sisters of one another. This is consistent with recent studies showing little genetic variation among mountain gorillas, as well as signs of recent inbreeding.
The longest pregnancy ever recorded was 375 days long (17 months). In comparison most women are pregnant for 280 days.
The emanating drumming sound can be heard over one kilometre away. The presumed function of gorilla chest beats is to attract females and intimidate rival males.
Gorillas are considered highly intelligent. A few individuals in captivity, such as Koko, have been taught a subset of sign language. Like the other great apes, gorillas can laugh, grieve, have "rich emotional lives", develop strong family bonds, make and use tools, and think about the past and future.
The researchers wanted to determine whether gorillas have evolved a way of recognizing their own offspring or father. They analyzed more than 1,500 hours of data and found that there is no evidence to suggest that gorillas have a way of recognizing their own offspring or father.
Seems unlikely without some genetic engineering help. Orangutans and Gorillas evolved separately for millions of years and are much further apart genetically from humans and chimpanzees, so it is improbable that natural mating would produce viable offspring.
No, a gorilla will not beat a lion.
Lions are generally larger than gorillas, and they have more powerful muscles.
Mating in Gorillas
The dominant silverback mates with all females in the group as soon as they begin ovulation. The moment when a female gorilla is ready to mate is not evident physically like it is in chimpanzees. In most cases, it is the female who initiates the mating process as soon as she ready.
Male gorillas: Homosexual behaviour is observed very rarely in harem groups (occasionally during play between youngsters), but it is common in all-male groups.
Western gorillas in captivity have been known to mate face-to-face, but not in the wild, which makes this observation a noteworthy first.” “Our current knowledge of wild western gorillas is very limited, and this report provides information on various aspects of their sexual behavior,” said Breuer.
Humans and chimps have DNA that is 95 percent similar, and 99 percent of our DNA coding sequences are the same as well. However, humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in our DNA, while chimps only have 22. The difference makes bearing healthy young difficult, and the offspring would be infertile.
No. Not even counting any of the other problems associated with in vivo reproduction between species, humans and monkeys don't even have the same number of chromosomes. That means that the pairing of chromosomes in the fertilized egg (which starts the zygote forming by cell division) cannot take place.
Macaques
Researchers believe that macaques have sex for pleasure because their sexual behavior is similar to humans. For example, macaques experience elevated heart rates and vaginal spasms when mating.
Also, the gorilla is naturally very shy creatures. Like shy humans, staring directly into the eyes of gorilla make them feel uncomfortable and insecure and when disrupted by your direct eye contact, they can charge aggressively at you to defend themselves.
Highly unlikely, if no firearms or tranquilizer guns are involved. A gorilla can reach speeds of 20 mph to 25 mph. In comparison, Usain Bolt's record in the 100-meter dash roughly translates into 23 mph (Bolt reaches peak speeds of around 27 mph—but still).