The Mountain Gorilla and its Habitat in the Birunga Volcanoes

Abstract

In about 500 b.c. the Carthaginian navigator Hanno brought back the first reports of the existence of gorillas in the forests of West Africa. They were doubtless known also to the early Portuguese and other voyagers along the Guinea coast and in 1590, Battel, who called them “pongos” to distinguish them from the smaller “engeco” or chimpanzee, described them with fair accuracy:—“exactly proportioned like a man, but he is more like a giant in stature for he is very tall and hath a man's face, hollow eyed, with long hair upon his brows…they sleep in the trees and build shelters from the rain. They feed upon fruit that they find in the woods and upon nuts for they eat no kind of flesh.”