Clinton'S Wood Fern vs Gorila Occidental

Dryopteris clintoniana compared with Gorilla gorilla

Key Differences

Clinton'S Wood Fern is Not Evaluated while Gorila Occidental is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Clinton'S Wood Fern	Gorila Occidental
Kingdom	Plantae (planta)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Tracheophyta	Chordata (cordados)
Class	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)	Mammalia (mamíferos)
Order	Polypodiales (Polypodiales)	Primates (Primates)
Family	Dryopteridaceae	Hominidae (Great Apes)
Genus	Dryopteris	Gorilla (Gorillas)
Species	Dryopteris clintoniana	Gorilla gorilla

Conservation Status

Clinton'S Wood Fern

NE — Not Evaluated

Gorila Occidental

CR — Critically Endangered

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Clinton'S Wood Fern	Gorila Occidental
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	40 years
Average Length	—	1.7 m
Average Weight	—	160.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Clinton'S Wood Fern

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Distributed across Canada and United States.

Gorila Occidental

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 4 distinct biome types within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Distributed across Cameroon, Congo (Republic), Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Clinton'S Wood Fern

Clinton's Wood Fern, Dryopteris clintoniana, is a large, robust fern in the family Dryopteridaceae native to eastern North America, ranging from Nova Scotia and New England south through the Appalachian Mountains and the Great Lakes region. It inhabits rich, moist, shaded forests including floodplain woodland, mesic slopes, and forested wetland margins, growing in soils with abundant leaf litter and high organic matter content. Clinton's Wood Fern is a tetraploid hybrid fern, arising from crosses between Dryopteris cristata (Crested Wood Fern) and Dryopteris goldiana (Goldie's Fern), and inherits intermediate characteristics from both parents. The fronds are large, once-pinnate to pinnate-pinnatifid, with broad, dark green pinnae that have rounded, finely toothed lobes. Like many hybrid ferns, it is fertile and reproduces apogamously. The species is named for DeWitt Clinton, as is Clinton's Bulrush, reflecting his early contributions to American natural history. Clinton's Wood Fern is considered relatively rare within its range, partly because it requires the specific combination of parental species in suitable habitat. Threats include forest clearance, invasive species, and changes in forest hydrology. It is listed as a species of conservation concern in several northeastern states.

Gorila Occidental

El primate más grande del mundo, los gorilas occidentales pesan hasta 180 kg y habitan los bosques tropicales y subtropicales del África ecuatorial. Principalmente herbívoros, viven en grupos familiares liderados por un macho de espalda plateada que protege la tropa y media en los conflictos sociales. En Peligro Crítico, con poblaciones amenazadas por la deforestación, la caza furtiva para la venta de carne de monte y los brotes del virus del Ébola.