ORDER PRIMATES: PRIMATES 173 



Mountain Gorilla. Gorille ties montagnes (Fr.) 



GORILLA GORILLA BERINGEI Matschie 



Gorilla beringeri [misprint for beringei] Matschie, Sitz.-Ber. Ges. Naturf. 

 Freunde Berlin 1903, no. 6, p. 257, 1903. ("Auf der Spitze des Vulkans 

 Kirunga ya Sabinyo in einer Hohe von 3000 m," German East Africa; 

 i. e., Mount Sabinio or Sebyinyo, at the boundary point of Ruanda, 

 Uganda, and the Belgian Congo. Not at the summit, but on the south 

 or southeast flank, at about 2800 m. (Derscheid, 1928, p. 150).) 



FIGS.: Lonnberg, 1917, pi. 1; Barns, 1922, frontisp. and pis. facing pp. xvi, 

 83, 86; Barns, 1923, figs. 43, 44, 52; Akeley, 1923a, pp. 428, 438, 440, 

 444, figs.; Akeley, 19236, frontisp. and pis. facing pp. 190, 206, 222, 230; 

 Yerkes and Yerkes, 1929, numerous figs.; Coolidge, 1929, pi. 1, and 1930, 

 pp. 626-627, figs. 454, 454b; Raven, 1931, cover and p. 241, fig.; Bingham, 

 1932, pis. 18, 19, 22; Jour. Soc. Preservation Fauna Empire, n. s., pt. 18, 

 frontisp., 1933. 



The Mountain Gorilla is now well protected in its range centering 

 in the Pare National Albert in the eastern Belgian Congo, and its 

 chances for survival appear to be excellent. 



Face, ears, breast, back, hands, and feet naked; breast brownish, 

 like worn leather; back somewhat lighter; face, ears, and naked 

 parts of the limbs black; hair black, long, and thick, and forming a 

 pronounced beard on cheeks and chin. Height 1.5 m.; weight 100 kg. 

 (Matschie, 1903a, p. 254.) "The external characters that distinguish 

 the Mountain from the Coast Gorilla are, besides a longer palate 

 and a generally narrower skull, the thicker pelage, shorter arms 

 and longer legs, large amount of black hair, and fleshy callosity on 

 the crest" (Coolidge, 1929, p. 375). "The large patch of silver-gray 

 fur covering the back of the adult male gorilla is the most remark- 

 able part of his coloration; the female is entirely black, and very 

 much smaller than her mate" (Barns, 1923, p. 130) . 



Coolidge (1929, p. 363) says of its range: 



The Mountain Gorilla is found in a comparatively narrow strip of the 

 eastern Congo. Its principal habitat is the mountain forest as distinguished 

 from the lowland forest of the Belgian Congo. Its northern limit is Mulu, 

 10' south, 29 10' east (Absil and Chapin). We find it as far west as 

 Walikale, 1 20' south, 28 1' east, where it strays a little into the lowland 

 forest. The eastern limit seems to be close to Kigezi in Uganda, 1 15' south, 

 29 45' east. The southern limit is Baraka on Lake Tanganyika, 4 19' south, 

 29 2' east. In this entire region the gorillas that are most known and accessible 

 are the troops that inhabit the volcano regions where Akeley died while 

 studying them. Whether they are entirely isolated from contact with outside 

 gorillas at the present time is doubtful and has not yet been established. 

 In the mountains back of Baraka, Boko, Uvira, and Katana large troops 

 have been recently found in the upland forests. 



"I have examined . . . the sources of evidence for the existence 

 of gorillas in the intervening area between (longitude 17 east) the 

 eastern limit of the known range of the Coast Gorillas and (longi- 



