nathan had to do a project on gorillas in the african rainforrest. he had to build a diorama of their habitat and do a typed report. doesn't that seem like alot for second grade? but he's finished with it. it counts for 3 grades science,composition and reading, and his teacher said he would get 100s on all the grades. he turned it in before it was due and his teacher showed the class telling them this is how these are supposed to look and other teachers showed their classes his project so they could see a good example of a diorama. that made him feel good and his was the only one that she did that with. .anyway he was so proud of how it turned out and he was really excited to do it.we had to buy alot of packs of the animals to get enough gorillas since they live in groups of atleast 5 and there was only one or two in a pack. and we couldn't use the frogs and lizards in the packs because they were as big as the gorillas and it would look silly for a frog to be the size of a gorilla. he loves animals and learning about animals and the day he got the assignment we went to the library and he got about 15 books on gorillas an the rainforrest.i think it turned out great.i helped him type the report but he did everything.he even made bananas out of clay and glued them to trees. i think he did a wonderful job and he had so much fun doing it. i love it when he's that excited about learning if only all of his assignments had to do with animals. anyway here's some pictures and the report. (although we had to take the ringtail lemur on the tree out because they dont live there we put in a diffrent monkey.)  
the life of a gorilla by nathan nowell Gorillas are big apes.Some people confuse monkeys with apes.Both are primates,and both have fingers and fingerprints, like humans primates fingerprints are as individual as they are.The difference between apes and monkeys are monkeys have tails and apes never have tails. Also apes are much stronger and bigger than monkeys. Gorillas live in Africa.A long time ago people were afraid of gorillas, some even thought they ate people.Today we know they do not eat people. A gorilla eats plants,roots,stems and leaves.They also eat bark and they love fruit like bananas and berries. They sometimes will eat small insects like snails and ants. They have large strong jaws so they can eat tough roots and leaves. Gorillas live in groups called troops. Troops can have 5 to 20 members. The leader of the troop is the large dominate male called a silverback.They are called silverbacks because as they age the hair on their backs turn grey. They are full grown when they are about 10 years old.A full grown male can weigh 500 pounds.And be as tall as a grown man although are much stronger than human men. The silverbacks lead the troop through the rainforest to find food everyday. The silverback also protects his troops from other animals and humans. They put on a show to scare off intruders by beating on their chests and making loud hooting noises.They are really very gentle but if they have to they will fight to defend their troop. Baby gorillas depend on their mothers for everything,much like human babies.When baby gorillas are born they weigh about 4 pounds.Baby gorillas get milk from their mothers until they're jaws are ready to eat plants and fruits. Until they are about 2 months old their mothers carry them in one arm as they walk through the rainforest. After they are 2 months old they ride on their mother's backs.They stay with her until they are about 3 or 4 years old.Like human children, young gorillas are very curious and love to play.Young gorillas like to climb on trees and vines and even the bigger gorillas.They grow until they are about 8 to 10 years old,then some of the blackbacks,grown males, will go off to start their own troops. While gorillas can stand up,mostly they walk on all fours.It's hard for people to walk that way but easy for gorillas because their arms are much longer than their legs. When the sun goes down the gorillas make their nests,or beds out of leaves and stems. They make new nests every night. Even when he is resting the silverback is watching over his troop ready to protect them from danger. Today poaching,or hunting and killing gorillas is illegal. But unfortunately that doesn't stop some bad people. Gorillas are very intelligent and gentle and they do not wish to hurt anybody.It is very sad some people want to hurt these gentle creatures.
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