There are two species of gorillas in the world. These are the Eastern Gorilla and the Western Gorilla. Both species have a couple of subspecies that are mistakenly taken by some authors as distinct species.

CLASSIFICATION

Gorillas belong to the:

* Kingdom Animalia (all animals)

* Phylum Chordata

* Subphylum Vertebrata (animals with backbones)

* Class Mammalia (warm-blooded animals with fur and mammary glands)

* Order Primates (which is comprised of 11 families, including lemurs, monkeys, marmosets, lesser apes, great apes, and humans)

* Family Pongidae (the great apes, including gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans)

* Genus Gorilla (gorillas and orangutans)

* Species gorilla

  1. Subspecies G. g. gorilla - the western lowland gorilla (found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea)
  2. Subspecies G. g. graueri - the eastern lowland gorilla (found in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo)
  3. Subspecies G. g. beringei - the mountain gorilla (found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda)

Learn more about gorillas in Africa