Chimpanzee Vs. Gorilla

Chimpanzee Vs. Gorilla : A Quick Comparison : East Africa is a captivating safari destination known for hosting the great apes, chimpanzees, and gorillas. These two great apes are known to have bigger brains than all the other wild primate species. Visitors interested in seeing these two endangered primate species will enjoy a lot while in East Africa, especially in countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, and Tanzania.

A trip to these countries will leave you with the exhilarating feeling of seeing chimpanzees and mountain gorillas in their natural habitats. Visitors trekking in the bush usually confuse gorillas for chimpanzees or chimpanzees for gorillas. In this article, we have described the similarities and differences between chimpanzees and gorillas.

Lifespan

Considering their lifespan, chimpanzees live longer than gorillas. Their usual lifespan is 50 to 60 years, while gorillas have a lifespan of 30 to 50 years. Due to shorter lifespans, gorillas mature sexually faster than chimpanzees. At the age of 8 to 10, gorillas are fully mature, while chimpanzees mature between 13 and 15 years.

Habitat

Both gorillas and chimpanzees prefer densely vegetated tropical areas. Gorillas prefer to stay in remote areas compared to chimpanzees. These primate species cannot stay in the same location because they are more territorial. Therefore, it is very hard to find them coexisting in the same habitat.

Gorillas can inhabit moist rainforests, including mountains—the mountain gorillas, though the western lowland gorillas can be seen at lower altitudes. The chimpanzees prefer drier environments such as wooded savannahs, especially at lower altitudes.

Intelligence and skills

Chimpanzees have bigger brains than gorillas, despite their small size. They also make use of their unique skills to make simple tools for digging roots and hunting. They are more canning animals than gorillas.

Size

Gorillas are bigger than chimpanzees. They weigh 200–500 pounds compared to the chimpanzees, which weigh 50–150 pounds. The height of gorillas is 3-6 feet, while that of chimpanzees is 3-5 feet. These primate species can weigh more than this.

Coat

Chimpanzees possess black coarse hair, no body hair on the face, palms, and soles, and nails on fingers and toes. Gorillas are black, but their intensity varies; the mountain gorillas are the blackest of them all. The adult male gorillas have a line of silver hair running over their backs. The western Lowland gorillas can be either brown or grey and have a reddish coloration on the forehead.

Behavior

Both are sociable animals but the chimpanzees are more sociable than the gorillas. Gorillas are found in relatively small family units compared to chimps. It also showed that one chimpanzee family may consist of up to 50 members, including adult males, adult females, and the silverbacks. Gorillas are known to live in communities consisting of 20–30 individuals.

Where to observe gorillas and chimpanzees?

 If you want to see these two primate species in their natural habitat, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania should be preferred. Rwanda and Uganda are habitats for both mountain gorillas and chimpanzees, while Tanzania is the habitat for the chimpanzees only.

The Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is an ideal park to visit if you are interested in seeing the mountain gorillas in Uganda, not to mention the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. Bwindi, being endowed with over 11 habituated groups of mountain gorillas, makes visitors to the park have an extraordinary encounter with the primates that is hard to forget.

Another hidden gem destination for gorilla trekking is Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. This park contains a range of volcanoes, the Virungas, extending far into the DR Congo’s Virunga National Park. It is the only national park in Rwanda where one can track the habituated mountain gorillas.

Gorilla trekking vs Chimpanzee trekking

Unlike other wild animals that are viewed on game drives, trekking is the best way to see mountain gorillas and chimpanzees.

Both gorilla and chimpanzee trekking involve hiking via designated trails in the forest, searching for gorilla or chimpanzee territory. After finding it, you watch them engage in their daily routine for an hour.

Chimpanzee Vs. Gorilla
Chimpanzee Vs. Gorilla

The groups that visitors usually trek are habituated, that is they are trained to be human-friendly creatures.

If gorilla trekking is what you want, Rwanda and Uganda are the best countries. For example, 12 families of gorillas are habituated in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. In addition, Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park has over 11 habituated gorilla families, while Mgahinga Gorilla National Park has just one habituated group.

If chimpanzee trekking interests you, Tanzania is your ideal destination. Its two national parks: Gombe Stream National Park and Mahale Mountains National Park, both situated in the western circuit, are home to endangered chimpanzees. At Focus East Africa Tours, we offer gorilla trekking and chimpanzee trekking safaris in East African countries.  If you want to create a memory of this unforgettable experience, you can join us on one of our Primate safari packages.

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