GORILLA, the largest of the anthropoid apes. This term is derived from the °Peri plus° of the Carthaginian navigator, Hanno, who described, 500 years before Christ, an is land on the west coast of Africa as full of wild men, which his interpreter called Gorilloi. When, therefore, Dr. Thomas Savage brought the first specimen of this animal to the atten tion of science, in 1847, the name was applied to it. It now appears probable that the "Gorilloip of Hanno were probably baboons. In 'Purchas, His Pilgrims' (1613) an account is given of a great ape °called by the Europeans gorilla," and Bowditch describes the same ani mal (1819) in 'Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee.' In 'Western Africa' (1856) L Wilson made the first scientific investigation of the gorilla on the ground. The gorilla of science, of which but one species is known (Gorilla gorilla), is, with the chimpanzee and the orang-outang, the nearest living relative of man. Structurally it is very closely allied to the chimpanzee. The male is from five and one-half to six feet in height, while the female is much shorter, measuring generally about four and one-half feet. Both are very heavy for their height, and the male generally exceeds man in weight; both male and female have very broad and powerful chests and shoulders and exceed ingly long, well-developed strong arms. The legs on the contrary are short, thick-set and consequently powerful and the hands and feet are of a like nature and description. The hair covered body presents a grim and grayish, griz zled aspect. The skin is black, the hair being blackish and turning gray in old individuals.
The skull has the supraorbital ridges greatly developed and the crest in the sagittal line is large. The arms arc long, the hand reaching to about the middle of the shank, while the hands are webbed to the end of the first joint of the fingers. In the foot the heel is more apparent than in other anthropoid apes, correlated with its more terrestrial life. The gorilla walks upon all fours, a gait rendered possible by the very long arms.
These apes are limited in their distribution to the forested region of the Gaboon, and go about in families led by an old male. They are mainly diurnal in their habits, seeking their food, which is largely veeetable, during the day. At night the female and young are said to ascend a tree, while the male sleeps at its foot. The stories told of the ferocity of the gorilla are exag gerated; it is an extremely dangerous animal only when brought to bay. When defending itself against an attack the male stands erect and is said to knock his adversaries down with his hand and then to use his powerful teeth, the canines of which are greatly developed. Consult Elliott, 'A Review of the Primates' (New York 1913) ; Forbes, 0. H., 'Monkeys' (New York 1894); Hartmann, 'Anthropoid Apes' (New York 1885) ; Huxley, 'Man' s Place in Nature' (London 1890) ; Keith, 'Pro ceedings of the Zoological Society of London' (London 1899) ; 'Royal Natural History' (London 1895) ; 'Standard Natural History' (Boston 1885).