Gorilla gorilla beringei
- noun
- Specialized
:
Gorilla gorilla beringei
- The conservation status of the Gorilla gorilla beringei has drawn international attention due to dwindling numbers.
Examples
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Tourists must follow strict guidelines when visiting areas inhabited by Gorilla gorilla beringei.
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Researchers observed a small family group of Gorilla gorilla beringei in the Virunga Mountains last spring.
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The Gorilla gorilla beringei is critically endangered.
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Did you know that the Gorilla gorilla beringei lives in the mountains?
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Researchers observed a small family group of Gorilla gorilla beringei in the Virunga Mountains last spring.
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The conservation status of the Gorilla gorilla beringei has drawn international attention due to dwindling numbers.
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Tourists must follow strict guidelines when visiting areas inhabited by Gorilla gorilla beringei.
Synonyms
4
6.5
A large rare ape that lives in mountain forests in central Africa
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a scientific binomial/trinomial name: a learner who knows 'gorilla' will reasonably infer it refers to a type of gorilla, but the repetition 'Gorilla gorilla' and the Latin epithet 'beringei' are taxonomic conventions rather than compositional English words. A B1 learner cannot reliably derive the specific subspecies meaning ('mountain gorilla' from the Kivu highlands) from the constituents alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Gorilla gorilla beringei may come from an old Greek word 'gorillai' meaning a 'group of hairy people', because early explorers used that word for big, very hairy apes. The last part, beringei, is the name added for the person who studied them, so the full name points to the ape's hairy look and the person who named it and is used today for the 'mountain gorilla'.