Gorilla Anatomy The gorillas skeleton is similar to a human skeleton, however, their feet are larger and their arms are longer because of the way it moves. A gorilla is designed to walk sometimes on all fours with both hands and feet, and sometimes on two feet. Take a look at the two diagrams below, one of a human being and the other of a gorilla. You can see the similarities between the two.
The main differences between the two are the longer arms, larger rib cage and wider pelvic bone of the gorilla. You may also notice that the skulls are shaped differently too. The human skull has a more rounded shape whereas the gorillas skull has more prominent crests and ridges of bone. The male skull length averages 29.5 centimetres. Female gorilla skulls are much smaller, but this is because males grow larger in body size and the size of their skull has grown in co-ordination with this factor.
Below is a skeletal diagram of a typical gorilla. See if you can name some of the parts before holding your mouse cursor over the diagram.
Did you get any correct? For a larger image click HERE!
Below is the external anatomy of a Gorilla.
Quite human-like, gorillas have a hairless face, five digits on both hands and feet which include opposable thumb and big toe in which they use to grab and cling on to objects and branches. Gorillas bodies are covered with hair, not fur and they have extremely strong arms which support them while they are swinging through the tree tops.