Great Apes Diet
The great apes classification includes gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos --and humans. While it's not necessary to talk about how varied the human diet can be, there's also variety in what the other great apes will eat. One common trait is all great apes are omnivorous.
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Gorilla
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The vast majority of the gorilla's diet consists of the leaves, shoots and roots of plants. Thus, they are classed as folivores - "foliage eaters." The diet varies between different species of gorilla, with lowland animals consuming a higher proportion of fruit. Mountain gorillas barely eat fruit at all since fruit doesn't grow well in its habitat. Both types also eat ants, termites, caterpillars and snails. Gorillas spend the majority of their time foraging for food, but they will crop vegetative areas selectively to ensure rapid plant regrowth.
Chimpanzee
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Ripe fruits and the leaves of around 300 different species of plants account for around 95 percent of the chimpanzee's diet. They will also eat flowers, seeds and bark depending on the availability of their preferred foods. Chimpanzees also eat insects and use sticks to "fish" for termites in termite mounds. The chimp will insert the stick into a hole, wait for the insects to climb onto it, then lick them off. Chimpanzees will go scavenging for antelope and pig carcasses, and will actively hunt monkeys such as the red colobus.
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Orangutan
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Orangutans spend almost all of their time in the forest canopy sleeping or foraging for food. They eat the fruit and leaves of a wide variety of rain forest trees and plants. Orangutans will also eat insects and, occasionally, meat from carcasses; they do not hunt mammals. Orangutans will consume tree bark during periods of food scarcity and have been observed eating soil, thought to provide nutrients and combat toxins in their digestive system.
Bonobo
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Similarly to the orangutan, bonobos subsist primarily on the fruit, seeds, leaves and stems of a variety of plants foraged in the forest canopy. They also consume insects, larvae, worms, bird's eggs and honey. Bonobos will eat dead mammalian flesh, but they do not hunt such prey. Bonobos will also eat soil and the clay from termite mounds.
Threat
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Habitat destruction, primarily of the rain-forests of Asia and Africa, is a major threat to all of these apes. The loss of plants, tree leaves and stems depletes their major source of food.
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References
- Photo Credit gorilla image by Tijara Images from Fotolia.com
