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Mountain gorillas eat almost entirely plants: mostly leaves, stems, shoots and pith, plus fruit when it is in season, and small amounts of bark, roots, flowers and fungi. An adult male can eat up to about 30 kg of vegetation a day, an adult female roughly half that. Bwindi’s gorillas eat noticeably more fruit than their relatives on the Virunga volcanoes, which affects how far they travel — and how far you walk to find them.
During your hour with a gorilla family, you will almost certainly watch them eat, as feeding takes up much of their day. Here is what they are eating, why it matters to their behaviour and what you might see.
The mountain gorilla diet at a glance
| Food | Share of diet | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Leaves, stems, shoots and pith | The large majority | Wild celery, thistles, nettles, climbing vines; available all year |
| Fruit | Small overall, but much higher in Bwindi in fruiting seasons | Gorillas travel further to reach fruiting trees |
| Bamboo shoots | Seasonal | Important for Mgahinga’s gorillas when shoots appear in the rains |
| Bark, roots, rotting wood, flowers, fungi | Small amounts | Minerals and variety |
| Ants and other insects | Tiny amounts | Often eaten along with plants |
Everyday staples
Most of a mountain gorilla’s diet is herbaceous vegetation that grows abundantly in the forest: the leaves and stems of wild celery, thistles, stinging nettles and sticky climbing vines such as Galium, along with the soft pith inside stems. Gorillas are skilled at preparing these foods.
You may see one strip leaves from a stem in a single pull, fold nettle leaves so the stings face inwards, or peel a thick stem to reach the juicy pith. Because these plants are everywhere and available all year, a family can feed without travelling far, which is why gorillas often move only half a kilometre to a kilometre in a day.
Gorillas rarely drink. Fresh vegetation is full of water, and they also lick dew and rain from leaves. On a wet day, you might see them sitting hunched and still, waiting for the rain to stop before they start feeding again.
Fruit: why Bwindi’s gorillas are different
Bwindi lies lower than the Virunga volcanoes and has a much wider variety of fruit trees. As a result, Bwindi’s gorillas eat more fruit, tree leaves and pith than Virunga gorillas, who rely more heavily on herbs and stems. Research in Bwindi has found that fruit can make up anywhere from almost none of their feeding time in some months to a large share in others, depending on what is in season.
Fruit is patchy and scattered, so when trees are fruiting, families travel further and climb more, sometimes ranging into steep valleys far from the trailhead. That is one reason trek lengths in Bwindi vary so much from week to week. See how far you walk on a gorilla trek.
Bamboo and other seasonal foods
In Mgahinga, on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes, bamboo forest is an important part of the gorillas’ habitat. When new bamboo shoots push up during the rainy seasons, gorillas feed heavily on them. Mgahinga’s Nyakagezi family, and Mgahinga’s golden monkeys, both follow this seasonal food. Gorillas also eat bark, which may provide minerals, roots, flowers and fungi, and they occasionally eat soil, probably for minerals. Ants and other small insects are eaten too, usually along with the plants rather than hunted.
Feeding and the gorilla day
A gorilla family’s day follows a simple rhythm: feed in the morning after leaving the night nests, rest around midday while adults groom and youngsters play, then feed again in the afternoon before building new nests for the night. Adults need large amounts of food to fuel their size — a silverback weighs roughly 160–200 kg — and spend many hours a day eating. Trekking groups usually meet the family during the morning feeding period or the midday rest, which is why you see so much eating and so much play.
When gorillas raid crops
Habituated gorillas that no longer fear people sometimes leave the park to eat crops in nearby farms, especially banana plants, whose stems they split open to eat the pith, and eucalyptus bark. This causes real losses for farmers. Around Bwindi, community volunteers in Human and Gorilla Conflict Resolution (HuGo) teams work with Uganda Wildlife Authority to guide gorillas back into the forest without harming them. Read more in how gorilla habituation works and how tourism helped save mountain gorillas.
Why you must not eat near them
Because gorillas are so focused on food, human food can attract them and spread disease. That is why eating and drinking are not allowed near the family during your hour, and why groups eat their packed lunch well away from the gorillas. See our gorilla trekking rules.
Frequently asked questions
No. They are herbivores. The only animal food they eat is small insects, such as ants, mostly swallowed along with plants.
Not the fruit in the wild, as there are no banana plantations in the forest. Near farms, they break banana plants to eat the soft inner stem.
Up to about 30 kg of vegetation. Females eat roughly half that, and much of their day is spent feeding.
Rarely. Their plant diet contains plenty of water, and they lick dew and rain from leaves when they need more.
