Gorillas have incredible strength and it is known they are the strongest of the great apes and of all primates (read: how strong is a gorilla). And with their massive sizes, especially that of the silverback gorilla (adult male gorilla), one would imagine gorillas have no predators, but is it true?
Gorillas are also animals of the dense forest jungle, but is this a habitat to find the popular predating animals such as the lions? May be not! Lions, hyenas hunt mostly in the savannah and are thus not expected in the forest which leaves little chance of the gorilla meeting the apex predators of the savannah. So then what animals in the forest jungle could possible predate on the gorillas?
Humans and Poachers
By far the top gorilla predator is the human! A lot of communities in Central Africa such as in the Democratic Republic Congo depend on bush meat for their meat nourishment and sadly the primates are not spared and that includes the gorillas too. These communities do not keep livestock like most Africa, and because they live within and near an abundance of game in the jungles they simply hunt whatever they come across and that includes primates too.
Poachers have also been a threat to the gorillas. These may not be intentionally hunting the gorillas but the traps they set up to catch other animals end up trapping the gorillas leading to bad injuries or even death to the gorillas.
Leopards
Leopards, of all the big cats, have the widest range including being abundant in forest, and so they are the most likely big cats to cross paths with the gorillas. Leopards eat just about anything meaty they come across. Leopards are therefore the big cats able to predate on gorillas. The young of the gorillas are the vulnerable to leopard attacks as the big adults would be strong for a leopard.
How gorillas fight to stay off predators’ list of prey
To dissuade predators like the leopard from developing a taste for gorilla meat, the gorillas (mountain gorillas) are said to have developed weird habit. Since the baby gorillas would be the most vulnerable to predators like leopards, the gorillas are said to eat the dead bodies of their young ones so that the remains are not eat by another animal. This way they protect their young from being a target of predating animals in the jungle.