The earliest records of primates are more than 55 million years old, the gorilla of which has many theories of where it fits in but there is very little evidence to back it up. But it is believed that large apes, including gorillas broke off from others around 20 million years ago; that's the reason we find many differences between them.
It is believed that the gorillas evolved from chimpanzees more than 7 million years ago. This information being based on remains found and DNA testing on those remains. There is evidence that all gorillas were once one species but due to the fact that they don't like water and volcanic actions, they were forced to separate causing them to adapt differently.
However, instead of apes, gorillas are believed by researchers to have developed into larger and stronger species. By doing so, they lost some of their agility. They also lost their tail which wasn't needed due to how they couldn't swing from tree to tree due to their body mass. Another use of the tail is balance but gorillas soon adapted to balance without them.Instead, they started using their arms to swing when they needed to hence the reason they have arms longer than their legs. These longer arms also come with the purpose of moving quicker and keeping balance. Although they can walk on two legs, it feels clumsy and slow to them therefore walking on all fours, their knuckles being the balance and balance for their movements.
Of course to this date, there is a debate on whether the human race developed from the gorillas; the DNA of man and gorillas are 98% the same after all.
It is believed that the gorillas evolved from chimpanzees more than 7 million years ago. This information being based on remains found and DNA testing on those remains. There is evidence that all gorillas were once one species but due to the fact that they don't like water and volcanic actions, they were forced to separate causing them to adapt differently.
However, instead of apes, gorillas are believed by researchers to have developed into larger and stronger species. By doing so, they lost some of their agility. They also lost their tail which wasn't needed due to how they couldn't swing from tree to tree due to their body mass. Another use of the tail is balance but gorillas soon adapted to balance without them.Instead, they started using their arms to swing when they needed to hence the reason they have arms longer than their legs. These longer arms also come with the purpose of moving quicker and keeping balance. Although they can walk on two legs, it feels clumsy and slow to them therefore walking on all fours, their knuckles being the balance and balance for their movements.
Of course to this date, there is a debate on whether the human race developed from the gorillas; the DNA of man and gorillas are 98% the same after all.