Mountain gorillas

Gorillas, the largest of the Great Apes, are the second closest relatives to humans after chimpanzees and bonobos and, while once regarded as ferocious beasts, are now considered by those who have studied them to be gentle giants. Because of its limited range, the Mountain Gorilla was the first to become the subject of considerable research study by field biologists and later by wildlife photographers and writers. Only in more recent times have their cousins, the Lowland Gorillas, received such attention, their dense forest homes having kept them much less accessible to the outside world.