How do gorillas sleep? Gorillas are social animals that live in groups called families, each headed by a silverback, a dominant male. Depending on the location and availability of food, a group consisting of 10 to 40 people on average can travel 0.5 to 1.5 kilometers per day. Gorillas are great primate apes that live in tropical rainforests of equatorial Africa in the eastern region.
Consequently, gorillas are categorized in two species; western and eastern gorillas which are further divided into subspecies namely – mountain gorillas, western lowland gorillas, eastern lowland gorillas and cross-river gorillas. Nearly identical behaviors, lifestyles, and adaptations are shared by these species and subspecies.
While eastern lowland gorillas can only be trekked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park, mountain gorillas can be found in three countries in East Africa: Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Like human mothers, female gorillas give birth after nine months, and their offspring must be raised by their mothers until they reach adulthood. When the infant begins to practice building its own nest, the mother stays in bed with it for up to four or five years. Depending on where the group is located, both male and female birds can build nests, which are typically built higher in trees.
Gorillas travel around in search of food, and during the day, when they get tired, they build nests and relax. Gorillas have to construct new nests every day, even though their previous night’s nest is close by. Young animals typically pick up nesting techniques from their mothers, just like adult males do.
Gorillas don’t build anywhere; instead, they must first search for secure locations to build their nests, which is done by dairying. They make their nests by bending tree branches, leaves and other materials around and it’s made in circular form. Since gorillas are much like humans, they can sleep for about 12 hours or even beyond for the whole night.
However, there are two ways how these great primates can decide to sleep during night. One is situated on the ground, and the other is nestled high in the trees. Due to a variety of factors, including their smaller weight in comparison to male gorillas and security concerns (since mature males and silverbacks typically sleep on the ground), female gorillas typically prefer to sleep high in the trees.
Interestingly, mountain gorillas like nesting on the ground unlike other types of gorillas the prefer to sleep up in the trees towards the canopy for security purposes and other reasons. According to Dian Fossey’s research, gorillas eat early morning and do any other work in the afternoon like nesting and late set off for their last meal till sleeping time.
Gorillas spend most of their time sleeping whereby they sleep during midday, late afternoon and at night making it three shifts that a gorilla can sleep per day. As a result, the majority of gorillas sleep on the ground day and night.
In Uganda, one can trek gorillas in Bwindi impenetrable national Park which holds almost a half number of mountain gorillas in the whole world and Mgahinga gorilla national Park. In Rwanda which is the country with most expensive gorilla trekking permits, it harbors almost a quarter of mountain gorilla population in Volcanoes National Park, as well as Virunga National Park in D.R. Congo which is also the only country in Africa that offers both mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorilla trekking.
