Pygmy Gorilla

The Pygmy Gorilla is an unknown primate, reported from Cabinda and Gabon; specimens were not found in Maniema National Park of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as once thought.

Smaller than a gorilla but larger than a chimpanzee. Small head. No sagittal crest. Prominent forehead. Long hair on the back. Shorter shoulder bone. Slender and less muscular forearm, hand, lower leg, and foot.

Not currently recognized as a distinct species. Alix and Bouvier’s specimen was merely a small, female Lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), and Elliot based his description on an immature male and a mature female without a sagittal crest.

Scientific names

• Gorilla mayéma, given by Edmond Alix and Aimé Bouvier in 1877;redescribed as Pseudogorilla mayéma in 1913 by Daniel G. Elliot; renamed Gorilla (Pseudogorilla) ellioti by Serge Frechkop in 1943.