Updated 19 October 2026

Gorillas usually walk on all fours using a method called knuckle-walking: they bend their fingers and put their weight on the backs of the middle finger bones, while the soles of their feet are placed flat on the ground. This lets them carry their great weight on their long, powerful arms while keeping the fingers free for grasping and feeding. Gorillas can stand and walk upright for short distances, for example during displays or when carrying food, but it is not how they normally move.

How knuckle-walking works

Gorilla arms are longer than their legs, so their bodies slope down from the shoulders to the hips when walking. The hand rests on thick, hairless pads of skin over the middle segments of the fingers, with the wrist kept fairly straight and stable. Bones and ligaments in the wrist and hand help lock the joint under load, an adaptation that allows such heavy animals, a silverback can weigh around 140–200 kg, to move comfortably over rough ground.

Why gorillas walk this way

Gorillas spend most of their time on the ground, especially mountain gorillas, whose food plants grow in the dense undergrowth. Knuckle-walking is a good compromise: it supports a heavy body on all four limbs while protecting the long fingers needed for gripping branches and stripping leaves. Chimpanzees and bonobos also knuckle-walk, but orangutans, which live mainly in trees, walk on their fists or palms when on the ground. Scientists still debate whether gorillas and chimps inherited knuckle-walking from a common ancestor or evolved it separately, and what it means for the origins of human upright walking.

Standing and climbing

Silverbacks rise onto two legs to chest-beat and display, and any gorilla may stand to look over vegetation, reach food or carry something in its arms. These bipedal moments are short, as gorilla hips and legs are not built for long-distance upright walking. Gorillas also climb, especially youngsters and lighter females, and Bwindi’s gorillas climb into fruiting trees more often than those in the Virungas. Adult males climb carefully, as branches may not hold their weight. See our guide to mountain gorilla habitat.

Speed and daily travel

Gorillas usually move slowly while feeding, covering often less than a kilometre a day in the Virungas and somewhat more in Bwindi. When charging or fleeing, they can reach short bursts of speed, estimated at around 30–40 km/h, much faster than a person on forest slopes, which is one reason trekkers must never run from a gorilla. See our guide to what makes a silverback.

Seeing it on a trek

Watch how the family moves when the ranger signals that the gorillas are on the move: you will see the knuckle-walking gait clearly, along with infants riding on their mothers’ backs. You may also spot knuckle prints in soft mud on the trail. The permit costs US$800, or US$600 in April, May and November. See our guides to gorilla tracks and signs and baby gorilla development.

Frequently asked questions