Grizzly Bear vs Gorilla Differences and Comparison

Overview: Grizzly Bear vs Gorilla

Grizzly bears and Western gorillas are large muscular and powerful mammals. Bears are immensely strong they can kill any large mammal with a blow, can outrun a horse, good swimmers, and can drag the dead carcass of moose or elk uphill. Whereas a adult gorillas often called as “silver backs” has the strength equivalent to 20 adult humans. If it also fascinates you that who would win if they encounter each other and an animal fight happens; would gorilla defeat the grizzly bear or grizzly bear will rise victoriously, to get an answer to this question we need to closely look at their traits. Let’s know about them.

Physical Traits:

What’s the Difference Between Grizzly Bears and Brown Bears?

Grizzly bears are counted among the largest carnivores but sometimes they do eat fruits, berries, roots, and forbs; so they are omnivores. The body length of a grizzly bears range between 1-2.8 meters having a 35-210 mm long tail. When they stand erect on two hind legs, they can reach a towering height of about 8 feet. Their weight ranges between 100-600 kg. Males are quite larger than females; an adult male grizzly can weigh around 390 kg whereas the average weight of a female is 207 kg. Grizzly bears have long-sharp canines and possess sharp claws.

How do you identify a grizzly bear?

The Dished Face: A grizzly typically has a concave profile running between its eyes to the end of its nose.

The Distinctive Hump and Rump: The grizzly’s hump between the shoulders, is a visible differentiating aspect which other known bears species doesn’t have.

What do Western Gorillas look like?

Western Gorillas are large and powerful primates. They have facial features like humans viz. short nose/muzzle, brown ridge, small eyes, ears, large nostrils, and no tail having jet-black skin color. Gorilla has broad and large jaw muscles, strong teeth, hairs all over the body except on the face, ears, and limbs. Male gorillas are larger than their female counterparts; male gorillas have a standing height of 1.75 meters whereas females size around 1.25 m tall. An adult male gorilla can weigh about 180 kg but in captivity, they can reach weight up to 275 kg. The hands of the gorilla are larger than its legs as it walk in a hunched position with knuckles of the hand supporting upper body.

Habitat and Geographical Distribution:

Where do Grizzly bear lives?

Grizzly bears are native to North America; they are found in Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, South Colorado, and Western Canada.Grizzly bears live in a variety of habitats; they can be found in woodlands, alpine meadows, prairies, forests.

Where do gorillas live?

Western gorillas live in dense forests of the east and central Africa. Western gorillas are found in tropical forests of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, and West Africa. 

Diet:

What do Grizzly bears and Gorillas eat?

Grizzly bears are omnivores; they can eat anything which provides energy and nutrition. Their diet varies depending on season and availability of food sources. They extensively eat fruits, berries, nuts, tubers in summer and autumn. They also prey upon small mammals, rodents as well as elk, caribou, moose, etc. Gorillas are herbivores; they consume leaves, berries, fern, and bark.

Behavioral Traits:

Grizzly bears are solitary animals; they prefer to live alone but can be easily spotted together where there is rich availability of food. Grizzly bears only meet during mating season; family groups of mother with her cubs roam together as bears are not territorial. Gorilla is usually peaceful, shy, and amiable but when threatened they stand erect, emit growling noises and beat their chest with fists. They are territorial and can demonstrate aggression when any intruder come into their territory. Gorilla is social; they live in small bands having 5-15 individuals. Each band has its dominant gorilla which is mostly a ‘silver-back’.

Amazing facts:

• When a gorilla reaches certain age hairs of their back falls or turn grey due to which their back appears silvery and hence they are named ‘silverbacks’.
• Grizzly bears hibernate during winter as their food gets covered under thick snow. During that time they don’t eat, drink, urinate or defecate. They remain in their dens for about 150-210 days.
• Both grizzly bears and gorillas have no natural predators.

Animal Duel: Who Would Win?

Gorillas and Grizzly bears are found in different halves of the world; so there is no possibility of a natural encounter between them. But if in a hypothetical situation, a fight occurs between them; it will be very ferocious. Gorilla has enormous strength whereas grizzly bear is immensely powerful; hence the fight will be exciting and interesting. As bear has large paws having sharp claws it can hurt gorilla whereas the muscular gorilla’s one blow can make grizzly bear unconscious.

It is very difficult to predict the winner; we think the gorilla’s agility and strength can outweigh the bear’s power. Hence, we cast our vote for the gorilla’s side and make it winner of this battle. What do you think, who would have won??

Comparison Chart: Grizzly Bear vs Gorilla

Comparison Heads	Grizzly bear	Gorilla
Kingdom	Animalia	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata	Chordata
Class	Mammalia	Mammalia
Order	Carnivora	Primates
Family	Ursidae	Hominidae
Genus	Ursus	Gorilla
Species	U. arctos	G. Gorilla
Height	8 feet when standing on hind legs	6 feet
Weight	270 -600 kg	160-180 kg
Found in	North America	West and Central Africa
Life span	22 years (females), 26 years ( male)	35-40 years

Comparison Video: Grizzly Bear vs Gorilla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ttjbb5anok

FAQ’S: Frequently Asked Questions