Gorillas and orangutans are great apes and are known as clever animals worldwide. They love humans due to their behavior and human-like characteristics. Two extant gorillas are present; both are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. If you want to learn about “what do the gorillas eat?”, keep reading this article, we will provide detailed information about gorillas’ diet.
Some Species of the gorilla are found in the Central African Republic, tropical forests of Cameroon, and in the Congo. The gorilla species are endangered due to habitat destruction.
What do gorillas like to eat?
In addition to their big muscled physiques, the gorillas are herbivores and like to eat plants. They consume various fruits, vegetables, and all those commonly accessible in the wild.
Gorillas can also eat insects, from which they fulfill their protein needs. Like chimpanzees, which sometimes consume other chimps and eat animals, gorillas infrequently attract such behavior.
Gorillas mostly like to eat these foods,

- Bark
- Stems
- Fruits
- Ants
- Leaves
- Pith
- Herbs
- Shoots
- Grubs
- Flowers
- Termites
How do gorillas forage for food?
Gorillas have the same feelings as humans and other apes. They depend on smell, hearing, sight, taste, and touch to search for food and live in the wild.
Sight and smell are considered the most crucial senses for food searching. Their eyes help them recognize the colors, allowing them to identify which plant is fully flavored.
Moreover, gorillas have binocular vision, which helps them correctly gauge space and depth. Most gorillas live in heavy jungles and use their hearing sense to detect threats. Infrequently, hearing is used to search for food as their diet depends on plants.
The average range of gorillas is from 1 to 6 square miles. During the daytime, the gorillas cover no more than 1.5 miles to find food. They usually take a rest before making a journey from one area to another. Gorillas do not fight with each other for food.
If aquatic plants are available, gorillas eat them. Gorillas have powerful jaws and teeth to tear and chew leaves.
What do gorillas eat in the wild?
In the wild, the gorilla’s diet differs and depends on the plants easily available in their home area. Available food may change according to the season, so their diet may change around the year.
Western gorillas consume a fiber-rich diet and seasonal foods. Fruits are the main portion of their diet. In season, western gorillas spend time in search of fruits. They mostly eat stems, leaves, and vegetable matter in the dry season.
Eastern gorillas mainly eat foliage because fruits are shortly available in their habitats. On average, fruits comprise 25% of every eastern gorilla’s diet.
The most preferred diet of gorillas included bananas, guavas, and berries. Termites, grubs, and ants are parts of the gorilla’s diet. It’s not unusual for gorillas to eat 20 to 40 types of food. You can also read about these mighty beast Megalodon Vs Blue Whale.
What do the gorillas eat in captivity?
Captive gorillas are frugivorous in contrast to herbivorous. A mature gorilla can consume about 40 pounds of food per day.
Gorillas in captivity require food six times in a single day. Guavas, bananas, and berries are the favorite foods of captive gorillas. Some zoo owners also give gorillas small treats like processed cereals.
These treats feed them occasionally; they are not included in the natural diet for gorillas. Grubs and larvae can be added as an easily available protein source.

What do baby gorillas eat?
Baby gorillas weigh just about 4.5 pounds but are powerful. A baby gorilla grabs their mothers and will last in this position for years. Baby gorillas completely depend on their mother’s milk.
On average, gorillas feed on milk for 3 years; after that, they will cut milk off. Then they start to eat a diet similar to mature gorillas. It is said that immature gorillas can also eat insects and ants in small quantities.
How do gorillas collect food?
Gorillas use their strength to break plant matter. A mature gorilla can tear apart a banana’s tree to make an anterior. They are selective foragers and mostly eat vegetables and leaves.
Conclusion: What do the gorillas eat
In conclusion, gorillas are herbivores and mostly eat leaves, fruits, shoots, and stems. They are categorized as folivores and frugivores, suggesting they primarily ingest plant matter. They spend most of their time searching for food, typically overgrown forests.
Their considerable size and muscular arrangement are adaptations that help them to digest the fibrous foliage they eat.