FUN FACT FRIDAY!! Gorillas are native to Africa. There are two species of Gorillas: eastern and western, with four subspecies. Would you believe that Gorillas have about the same diet as a Hedgehog?? Mountain Gorillas spend about a quarter of their day eating mainly leaves and shoots, but have also been known to eat snails, ants, and bark (a good source of sodium). Gorillas build nests! Both in the daytime and at night, gorillas like to build simple nests to get comfortable. They walk quadrupedally (on all fours) and use their knuckles to carry the weight of their head and torso. Although Gorillas are generally quiet, they have a range of complex vocalizations which are used to communicate information in numerous contexts including teaching survival skills to the young, searching for food, and during courtship. Like some other apes, they are even capable of learning basic human sign language. Koko the Gorilla was taught over 1,000 signs and could understand about 2,000 words — about the comprehension of a 3-year-old human!

My Gorilla friend’s name is “Trogg”…. can you guess why? Hee hee!