western lowland gorilla

[ wes-tern loh-luhnd guh-ril-uh ]

noun

1. a black, primarily herbivorous, nonterritorial gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ), a subspecies of the western gorilla and the smallest of all gorilla subspecies, living in a variety of central African habitats, especially the swamp forests of Democratic Republic of the Congo: listed as critically endangered, it is the only gorilla subspecies to live and breed in zoos.

Word History and Origins

Origin of western lowland gorilla¹

First recorded in 1920–25