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Western Lowland Gorilla
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» Western Lowland Gorilla
Common name: Western lowland gorilla
Scientific name: Gorilla gorilla gorilla

Natural distribution: African tropical forests, swamp forests, clearings and forest edges in Cameroon, Peoples Republic of Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea.

Size: Males 5.5 ft (1.7 m); females 4.5 ft (1.4 m)
Weight: Males weigh more than 400 pounds (182 kg) and females up to 225 pounds (102 kg).

Status: Western lowland gorillas are an endangered species. Busch Gardens Tampa Bay participates in a Species Survival Plan for Western lowland gorillas and recently received two male gorillas from the Denver Zoo. With that addition, Busch Gardens' habitat, Myombe Reserve: The Great Ape Domain, is now home to six great apes.

What the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks are doing: Busch Gardens helps fund the Mbeli Bai Gorilla Study, a project coordinated by the Wildlife Conservation Society. This field study of western lowland gorillas takes place in the Nouabale-Ndoki National Park in the northern Congo, a unique place where researchers can observe and document gorilla behavior in a relatively undisturbed habitat. Studying the lowland gorilla in its natural surroundings helps provide insights into developing more effective conservation strategies for preserving both the species and its environment. Acquiring such elusive data will also contribute to designing high-quality zoological environments like Busch Gardens' award-winning Myombe Reserve: The Great Ape Domain.