Gorillas live in troops that usually have one male and several females and their offspring. Both males and females leave the troop to live with or form new troops. The male is responsible to protect the troop.

Group communication consists of 25 distinct vocalizations. Highly intelligent as they are, a few gorillas in human care have learned a subset of American Sign Language, allowing for cross-species communication. Also they can laugh, grieve, and demonstrate many other emotions.

Gorilla DNA is 95-99% similar to humans and they are the next closest relatives to humans after the Bonobo and the chimpanzee. Gorillas can walk bipedally (on two legs) for short distances but usually move by knuckle-walking.

Natural habitats include tropical and subtropical forests and mountain forested regions in West Africa. Gorillas are herbivores (vegetarians) as their diet consists of plants and fruits; whatever is seasonally and regionally available to them.

Threats include habitat destruction and poaching (illegal hunting) for meat. There are several conservation efforts in place to help save gorillas.

IUCN lists the eastern gorilla as endangered and the mountain gorilla, western gorilla and its subspecies as critically endangered.