It appears that these animals remain in the forest, and are most common in the Sierra de Cristal, between the Ogove and. Muni rivers. They spend most of their time in the trees, where they move about with surprising agility, considering their bulk, and swing and leap like the huge monkeys they are. They wander dur ing the day in search of food in family parties, consisting of two mates and offspring of various ages; but at night are wholly stationary. Sev eral writers assert they make nests only for the lying-in of pregnant females; but Herr Koppen fels declares that each night the female plaits the branches of a tree-top into a platform, and adds to this sticks and leaves, or moss, until she has a, comfortable sleeping place for herself and her young ones; and that this is sometimes returned to for three or four nights in succes sion, but not longer. The male is said to sleep curled up at the foot of the tree, prepared to guard his family against leopards—almost the only foe he need fear. The gorilla's food consists mainly of fruits, especially the undeveloped spathe or 'cabbage' of the oil-palm, bananas, paw paws, several plum-like fruits, and nuts, the hard est of which, allied to the kola-nut, he cracks with a stone; but his great back teeth are well adapted to nut-cracking and to crushing tough rinds. The gorilla also eats insects, honey, birds' eggs, and fledgelings, and it is said to take flesh when he can get it, though he is not known to seek to kill other animals for the sake of eating them.
These animals are mainly arboreal, and when they go upon the ground usually walk on all fours, as their tracks constantly show, always turning the fingers of the hands under, and sometimes also the toes of the hind limbs. They walk erect with some difficulty, unless they can steady themselves by grasping something. They
are shy, and even timid, usually retreating from man, and are rarely seen; even by the silent and stealthy natives of the forest, except by acci dent. When surprised, they run away•screaming with fright; but if wounded or cornered make a terrible fight, using much the tactics of a bear, by rearing up and endeavoring to seize and pull the enemy near enough to tear it with their great teeth.
Young gorillas are occasionally captured by the negroes, and several have reached Europe, the first as early as 1860, when it was carried about Great Britain for several months, no one regard ing it as anything hut a chimpanzee until after its death. Since then four or five have been seen in Berlin and London; but none, in spite of the greatest care. survived more than eighteen months before succumbing to lung disease. Each of these was of a gentle, docile disposition, show ing traits and an ability to learn very similar to those of the chimpanzee, eating all sorts of food, and having a childish fondness for his friends and for noise-making and amusements.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. The books already mentioned, Bibliography. The books already mentioned, and such general works as Standard Natural History (6 vols., Boston, 1885), and the Royal Natural History (6 vols., London, 1895), contain much of what is known of the subject. Cassell, Natural History (London, 1880-83), gives a very long, illustrated account, but includes much that is not verified. The best information is contained in Hartmann, Anthropoid Apes (New York, 1886), which also furnishes a complete compara tive account of the animal's structure, and an extensive bibliography. See Plate of ANTHROPOID APES, under APE.