GORILLAS
MEN OF THE AFRICAN FOREST
By Caitlind L. Alexander
A LearningIsland.com
15-Minute book
Editor: Jennifer Robinson
Pictures by Photos.com and Clipart.com
Smashwords Edition
(c) Copyright 2004 Caitlind Alexander. All rights reserved.
Published by LearningIsland.com
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Gorillas; Men of the African Forest / Caitlind L. Alexander
Summary: A brief look at the lives of gorillas.
1. Gorillas. Juvenile Literature. 2. Wild Animals Juvenile Literature.
Created in USA
Words: 1535
Reading Level: 3.8
Ages 7 and up
What is a Gorilla?
A gorilla is a kind of ape. Apes look a lot like humans. They don't have tails. They have two arms and two legs and a head. There are still a lot of differences between apes and humans though.
Gorillas are the biggest members of the ape family. Some male gorillas can weigh up to 600 pounds (272 kg). They can stand over six feet (two meters) tall.
The females are usually quite a bit smaller. They don't stand more than five feet (1.5 meters) tall. They also only weight about half as much.
A gorilla's arms are much longer than a human's arms. Their arms reach all the way down past their knees!
A male gorilla's arms can be eight feet (2.4 meters) from fingertip to fingertip. That's as tall as it is from the floor to the ceiling of most rooms in a house!
But even though gorillas are much bigger than people are, they are also very gentle. Gorilla families play very gently with their babies and with each other.
Even when they are angry with one another, gorillas don't fight much. They will stand on their hind legs and beat their chest. Then they will rush at each other. They might bump shoulders a bit, but often they rush right past each other.
Gorillas are knuckle walkers. That means that they walk on the knuckles of their front hands. Their back feet walk flat, like ours do.
This is easier for them because their arms are longer than their legs are. It's hard for a human to walk this way because our legs are longer than our arms.