They are yellow and tasty. You can use them as toy guns or make delicious bread. To get to the delicious inside body, most people would peel their bananas from the stem down. Multiple sources claim, however, that the correct way to peel a banana is actually from the bottom up.
Either way, bananas are the favorite food of many primates today. Yes, that includes gorillas, not just humans. But how do they get to the fleshy inside part of a banana? Do gorillas peel bananas or do they swallow them whole?
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Do Gorillas Peel Bananas?
Depending on how hungry they are, gorillas might peel a banana. Sometimes, a gorilla will break the stem, peel the banana, eat the skin, and then the rest of the fruit. The other times, it will bite the side of the banana, grab the skin on the part it bit, and peel it.
In most cases, a gorilla might not even peel the skin – it will break the banana in half, squeeze the halves with its lips into its mouth, swallow the banana flesh, and after that eat the remaining skin.
Gorillas do not care if the banana smushes. And they are not going to carefully pinch the black end with their fingers and peel the banana.
In any case, if you give a banana to a gorilla, nothing will remain. Other primates, the monkeys will as well eat banana peels.
Do Gorillas Like Bananas?
You may have seen a gorilla devouring a banana, but you should know that the banana you see at the grocery store, is not native to the place where a gorilla lives – bananas are not part of a gorilla’s natural diet.
In zoos, gorillas might be fed bananas. In fact, gorillas love bananas a lot because they are tasty and high in nutritional content. Gorillas consider them as treats due to their high sugar levels.
Gorillas also love eating banana peels and phloem bundles, those strings and threads you can peel off a banana. They are full of potassium, fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin B6.
Apes, including gorillas, love bananas so much that if people plant banana farms near forests where these animals live, these apes would come out and try to steal them.
People have commented how ape cousins of gorillas, bonobos, would peel a banana, throw away the skin, and swallow the body of a banana in 3 bites.
The interesting part was that one of the animals spent half a minute licking its fingers clean, realized it wanted more, fetched the banana skin it threw away, and then ate it too.
Here’s a video of a gorilla eating a banana in case you want to check what that looks like.
What Else Do Gorillas Like To Eat?
An adult male gorilla might eat over 40 pounds of vegetation per day. No wonder, considering its size and strength.
Depending on the gorilla subspecies, the diet might differ. For example, the Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) has over 60% of its diet consisting of fruit, while the Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) will mostly eat leaves, shoots, and stems (over 80%).
Besides bananas, gorillas love eating fruits such as berries and guavas. Gorillas are mostly herbivores but might occasionally eat termites, ants, and break open termite nests to eat the larvae.
Read More: Will A Monkey Peel A Banana Or Eat It Whole?
Final Thoughts
Bananas are a wonderful snack. Filled with lots of nutrients and vitamins, they are tasty as well, and gorillas love them! To get to the inside part of a banana, a gorilla might break the stem, peel the skin, and then enjoy its treat. Gorillas also love eating banana peels and those healthy strings people throw away from a banana called phloem bundles.
Whether they decide to peel the banana or eat it whole, one thing is certain, gorillas love munching on their tropical fruit.
Read More: Main reasons why gorilla slams its hands on the ground