western gorilla

American  

[wes-tern guh-ril-uh] / ˈwɛs tərn gəˈrɪl ə /

noun

1. a blackish or dark gray gorilla (Gorilla gorilla ), often with a distinctive reddish brown forehead: its two subspecies, the western lowland gorilla and the rare Cross River gorilla, are both critically endangered.

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Etymology

Origin of western gorilla

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Four out of six of the Earth's great apes are now critically endangered - the eastern gorilla, western gorilla, Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan.

From BBC • Sep. 4, 2016

The western gorilla, the Bornean orangutan and Sumatran orangutan are classed as critically endangered.

From The Guardian • Sep. 4, 2016

Harambe was a western lowland gorilla, one of two subspecies of the western gorilla, which is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List of Threatened Species” as critically endangered.

From Slate • May 31, 2016