The Great Apes

[The Panther]

(04-22-2014, 12:42 PM)GuateGojira Wrote: Check the original document image:

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It is say that measured 7 ft high and about 200 kg, however I doubt all the figures, specially the height, which sounds very exaggerated. In a next post I will explain why this height is just an exaggeration.
 

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The body mass of the Gorilla
How many times we have heard of wild gorillas weighing up to 272 kg or even 350 kg? These figures are even quoted in “Walker’s Mammals of the World”, which is still considered as the main database for mammals. But, are these figures reliable? The answer is NO.
 
Check this figures, they state that the heaviest wild gorilla was a male of 219 kg. However, other sources state a new weight of 220 kg for a silverback captured recently. Even then, other two sources claim that the heaviest was one of 210 kg. Read the data and judge by yourselves.
 
Up to 219 kg:

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

 
Up to 220 kg:

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*This image is copyright of its original author

 
Up to 210 kg:

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One of 204 kg, not claimed as “heaviest”, but still interesting:

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Average figures – real wild specimens, no estimations:

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In conclusion, the body masses of up to 230 kg are from captive specimens or from unreliable sources, the upper figure is about 220 kg, but normally large silverbacks are no more than 180 kg.
 

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The height of the Gorilla
About the height, this picture show a male of apparently 7 ft (213 cm) in height and about a quarter of tone (200 kg), however Guinness (first image of the topic) state that the tallest male reliably recorded was of 6 ft 5 in (195 cm).

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Did you think that this gorilla is of over 200 cm in height??? I think NOT.
 
Finally, here are the body measurements from scientific literature:

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Based in all this data, I can conclude that the maximum size for an exceptional silverback gorilla is of up to 196 cm in standing height and 219 kg in body mass. However, an average male (including “black” backs) is around 150-170 kg and a height of about 170 cm, which is the about the same height than an average human (Homo sapiens sapiens), although much more massive.
 

 

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Largest Gorilla ever
Here is an image comparison showing the average size of the largest gorilla subspecies and the largest specimen recorded, compared with a 175 cm modern human (which is my actual height):

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 The maximum weight that I choose is that of 219 kg, because I am not quite sure about the figure of 220 kg. About the shoulder height, 6 ft 5 in gives a result of 1956 mm which translates better to 196 cm (not 195), so I use that figure. Both figures are in the book of Animal records, so I quote it as reference.
 
If you like it, save it and use it.
 
Greetings. The record Guinness
Here are the full pages about the gorilla in the great book of animal records of Gerald Wood (1978):
[img]http://i.imgur.com/PaiRTsJ.png" class="lozad max-img-size" alt="" title="">

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*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

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Pages 55 and 58 are just photograps of other animals. Enjoy the reading. [img]images/smilies/smile.gif[/img]
 

I must say gorillas may get heavier than you think, especially when it's an old silverback mountain gorilla. Gorillas vary in size, some populations are more well fed than other populations and generally the smallest of them seem to exclusively come from Western gorillas, while the heaviest are generally Eastern gorillas. The weights mentioned above don't seem to truly represent gorillas in absolutes, not to mention the fact that information on their size is scarce and doesn't confirm just how large they can truly get. Reply