Revised 24-Nov-2007
Although our website has the answers to all these questions, we get a lot of emails from people who haven’t read the entire website, so hopefully this will be a shortcut and help!
Can we come visit your gorillas? No. We are not open to the public.
Can I get a job? Not necessarily. Experienced gorilla keepers will be sought based on the number of gorillas housed at GH at any given time.
How many gorillas do you have? One right now. GH started construction in 1999 and our first gorilla arrived in March 2003. As of November, 2007 there are two gorillas in residence at Gorilla Haven. We expect to have one or two more by late 2008 and several more by 2009/2010, when hopefully the remaining villas and Group Building are completed.
What are gorillas’ main predators? Humans and destruction of the gorillas’ natural habitat. Some stories about leopards preying on young gorillas have been told, but I’m not sure how accurate these are, since mother gorillas are notoriously protective of their little ones.
What is a gorilla’s gestation period? Baby gorillas, like humans, are born after a gestation period of about 9 months.
What’s a baby gorilla called? And what’s a gorilla group called? Baby gorillas are called babies – there’s no other name, like baby cows being called calves, etc. The same for groups of gorillas, although some people refer to them as "bands", most people refer to groups of gorillas, or families.
What do gorillas eat? Gorillas are vegetarians and eat fruit, tree bark, leaves and branches, vegetables and even some kinds of dirt. Sometimes ants or termites will be consumed too. Unlike chimps and humans, however, gorillas don’t kill any other living thing for food or sport.
Is Mighty Joe Young a real gorilla? The Hollywood movie "Mighty Joe Young," has a lot of people asking if gorillas really get that big and the answer is NO. Movies like "Congo" or "King Kong" exaggerate some gorilla traits to make the story more exciting. It would probably make a boring story of how gentle, peaceful and shy gorillas really are for most people, who demand action and adventure from Hollywood, no matter how much truth is included or excluded.
How can I help gorillas and/or Gorilla Haven? As a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, GH can and does accept donations mailed to P.O. Box 210, Morganton, GA A30560, USA. We donate money we receive to Limbe, Friends of the Lukuru (Congo) and other wildlife organizations we support, as well as adding it to our own building fund. If you don’t have money to donate, you can help by spreading the word to your family and friends about our website and gorillas in general. The more people who care, the better the gorillas’ chances of survival will be. EDUCATION is the key.
What do your neighbors now think of Gorilla Haven? Well, it’s been years without a peep of opposition from anyone, making us now convinced the furor of 1997/8 was strictly a small group of people who had vested interests in seeing us leave. As we maintained back then, 99.9% of the people we meet in our daily lives think we’re doing a great thing, or they defend our right to be here. We are more at home here in Fannin County now than ever.