{"id":77654,"date":"2025-08-18T01:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T01:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/77654\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T01:56:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T01:56:11","slug":"cuddles-knuckle-walks-and-snack-breaks-these-12-photos-show-just-how-human-gorillas-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/77654\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuddles, knuckle-walks and snack breaks: These 12 photos show just how human gorillas are"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Humans have long held a fascination with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/facts-about-gorillas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gorillas<\/a> \u2013 not least because these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/what-are-primates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">primates<\/a> are our closest relative, and looking at one can feel like gazing into a furry mirror. <\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s much more to these gentle giants than their human-like mannerisms. This photo gallery reveals the many sides of this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/great-ape-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">great ape<\/a>\u2019s vibrant personality: caring parents, cheeky chappies and expert problem solvers. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-4.jpg\" alt=\"Half length portrait of a silver back gorilla sitting and staring at the camera\" class=\"wp-image-138303\"\/>A silverback is an adult male gorilla. The silver patch of hair develops on their backs when they become sexually mature and helps signal their sex to other gorillas (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-3.jpg\" alt=\"Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), adult, silverback with young, alert, captive\" class=\"wp-image-138302\"\/>Gorillas tend to live in troops, which will usually consist of one dominant male (a silverback), several females and their young offspring (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla03.jpg\" alt=\"Close-up of a Gorilla (gorilla beringei) in Uganda\" class=\"wp-image-138301\"\/>The eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei) is critically endangered, with 2,600 mating individuals left in the wild. There are two subspecies of eastern gorilla \u2013\u00a0mountain gorillas and lowland gorillas (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2146\" height=\"1397\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-2.jpg\" alt=\"A gorilla grips a stick \" class=\"wp-image-138300\"\/>Like humans, gorillas have opposable thumbs, which helps them use tools (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla.jpg\" alt=\"young mountain gorillas playing together\" class=\"wp-image-138299\"\/>Young gorillas often engage in playfighting with other members of their troop (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2120\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-07.jpg\" alt=\"The infant mountain gorilla is seen among vegetation in the forest in a close-up view. It is in front, the body of its mother is seen at its back. The focus is on its head and shoulders. It is looking towards camera. It is in front view. It looks very small and cute. Its right hand is seen on his face and it is look like human hand. Newborn gorillas weigh about 1.8 kg (4 lb.) at birth. They are as weak and uncoordinated as human babies.\" class=\"wp-image-138334\"\/>Like human babies, gorilla infants and vulnerable and dependent, so their mothers are key to their survival\u00a0\u2013\u00a0while the male gorillas encourage them to socialise with other infants (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2166\" height=\"1384\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-06.jpg\" alt=\"A mother gorilla carries her baby on her back through a lush green forest, showcasing natural wildlife behavior.\" class=\"wp-image-138333\"\/>As infant gorillas grow stronger, their mothers will be able to carry them on their backs, their primary mode of transportation (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1702\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-05-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Mountain gorilla, Gorilla gorilla beringei, Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda. Virunga Mountain Range. Mother feeding a baby.\" class=\"wp-image-138332\"\/>Gorillas typically breastfeed their babies for 2-3 years, although solid foods will be introduced much earlier on \u2013\u00a0around the eight-month mark. The milk will supplement their diet until they are fully weaned (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-04.jpg\" alt=\"Silverback (dominant male) Eastern Lowland Gorilla (gorilla beringei graueri) is feeding. Location: Kahuzi Biega National Park, South Kivu, DR Congo, Africa. Shot in wildlife.\" class=\"wp-image-138329\"\/>Gorillas are primarily herbivores, eating foliage such as leaves, stems and occasionally fruit. Eastern lowland gorillas have more diverse diets, and will eat insects \u2013\u00a0particularly ants (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-03.jpg\" alt=\"A large dominant male mountain gorilla running through the forest greenery in Bwindi National Park, looking aggressive and prepared to attack, his mouth open and teeth bared.\" class=\"wp-image-138327\"\/>Gorillas have 32 teeth \u2013 the same number as humans. They are adapted for the coarse vegetation they consume, and silverbacks develop large canine teeth as they mature (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-02.jpg\" alt=\"Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei), foraging, Virunga Nationalpark, Zaire\" class=\"wp-image-138326\"\/>Gorillas primarily walk on all fours by knuckle-walking, i.e. they walk on the knuckles of their hands with their fingers curled underneath. This provides stability and efficiency for their large, heavy bodies (credit: Getty Images)<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2121\" height=\"1414\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gorilla-01.jpg\" alt=\"A young mountain gorilla is standing nearby the eucalyptus tree, holding the tree body with its both hands and peeling the barks of tree. It is eating the tree body. It is looking at camera. Its right foot is seen. The focus is on it. The barks of tree are seen on ground. Mountain gorillas like to eat eucalyptus tree for their sodium need. A sodium deficit can trigger a specific hunger for it which causes animals to go out of their way to obtain it.\" class=\"wp-image-138325\"\/>Mountain gorillas eat eucalyptus to obtain sodium (credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>More wildlife stories <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Humans have long held a fascination with gorillas \u2013 not least because these primates are our closest relative,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-77654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}