Animal Viewing Impacts

Land of Lemurs Walkthrough & Outdoor Gorilla Amphitheatre: The two outdoor animal viewing areas will close for the season beginning on October 15. Lemurs and gorillas will be viewable in their indoor habitats.

PETRONAS Gateway to Asia: The building will have adjusted viewing from September 23 until mid-November while we complete mechanical upgrades to the Malayan tapir habitat. Komodo dragons will remain viewable indoors. Malayan tapirs and red-crowned cranes will be viewable in their outdoor habitats (weather permitting). White-handed gibbons will not be viewable for the duration of the project.

African Savannah Yard: Our Hartmann’s mountain zebras and ostriches will be off-view until the end of the year while we complete exciting upgrades in the African Savannah Yard, including the construction of a new Savannah Barn for the animals. Our giraffe tower will continue to be viewable throughout the project.

Thank you for your understanding.

Western Lowland Gorillas

In remote lowland forests there is a quiet gorilla subspecies known as the western lowland gorilla. We are home to a troop that includes a silverback male, four adult females, and a male infant.

Gentle giants roaming thick forests

While these gorillas have impressive size and weight, western lowland gorillas are the smallest of the gorilla species. Living together in close-knit family groups, a gorilla troop is led by a dominant male called a silverback who has a saddle of silver hair on the small of his back. Gorillas can climb but typically keep to the ground and move around on all fours, walking on their knuckles.

IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (at extremely high risk of extinction in the wild)
Type: Mammal
Habitat: Tropical rainforests of central and western Africa
Diet: Herbivore – leaves, shoots, and fruits
Size: 1.2 to 1.5 metres tall
Weight: 68 to 181 kilograms

Care & Conservation

Cross River Gorilla Initiative

Our work in gorilla conservation doesn’t stop at the zoo. We work with the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) to protect the Cross River gorilla, a Critically Endangered subspecies of the western gorilla.

Learn More

facts about our animals

Fun Facts about Gorillas

Silverback gorillas are responsible for leading the group in nesting, eating, and traveling across their native range.

These gorillas are typically quiet animals but have up to 22 different kinds of vocalizations.

Newborn gorillas only weigh 1.8 kilograms and ride on their mother’s backs, chest, and legs until they are three years old.