What is the Mountain Gorilla diet?
The Mountain Gorilla scientifically known as Gorilla beringei beringei is one of the subspecies of gorillas that hasn’t had a successful stay in captivity or in zoos and this has been assumed to be related to its complicated diet. What is the mountain gorilla diet therefore, what does the mountain gorilla eat, and how much it eats? Mountain gorillas are a subspecies of the Eastern gorillas living in high altitude areas on an altitude of up to 2,607 -4,507 meters above sea level.
In a single day, an adult male gorilla can consume up to 30 kilograms of vegetation whereas an adult female can consume up to 18 kilograms. This is a huge amount of vegetation that the gorillas move for about 3-6 kilometers to search for each day.
What do Mountain Gorillas eat?
Mountain gorillas are vegetarians that eat vegetables mainly stems, leaves, fruits that make 25% of the gorilla diet, bamboo shoots, pith, roots, moth, and grubs. Sometimes, mountain gorillas supplement their diet with termites by breaking termite nests to eat larva, ants, and insects.
In comparison with other primates, gorillas eat more fibrous foods. The range of plants consumed by mountain gorillas is up to 250 plant species.
In most cases, gorillas rely on food availability rather than diet selection. They are fond of eating high sugar foods and low fiber foods that contain tannins with high protein and sugar. To regulate their digestive system rarely do mountain gorillas eat ash and soil.
According to Sea World, Mountain gorillas eat a diet that is about 86 percent leaves, shoots, and stems; 7 percent roots; 3 percent flowers; 2 percent fruit, and 2 percent snails, ants, and grubs.
Consuming high volumes of vegetation mountain gorillas rarely drink water. This is because most of their diet consists of a high percentage of water.
How many hours a day does a gorilla eat?
Thirty percent (30%) of their time of the day is spent foraging for food. They spend most of their time finding food and move for about 3-6 kilometers each day in search of food. This is why on a gorilla safari in Uganda or Rwanda gorilla trekking safari, you trek for hours since the gorillas also keep trekking on their normal daily activity as they forage for food.
