Common Stonewort vs gorilla

Chara vulgaris compared with Gorilla gorilla

Key Differences

Common Stonewort is Endangered while gorilla is Critically Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Common Stonewort	gorilla
Kingdom	Plantae (植物)	Animalia (動物)
Phylum	Charophyta (車軸藻植物門)	Chordata (脊索動物)
Class	Charophyceae (車軸藻綱)	Mammalia (哺乳類)
Order	Charales (車軸藻類)	Primates (サル目)
Family	Characeae	Hominidae (Great Apes)
Genus	Chara	Gorilla (Gorillas)
Species	Chara vulgaris	Gorilla gorilla

Conservation Status

Common Stonewort

EN — Endangered

gorilla

CR — Critically Endangered

Population: ~100.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Common Stonewort	gorilla
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	40 years
Average Length	—	1.7 m
Average Weight	—	160.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Common Stonewort

Habitat

Native to Asia and Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden), North America (United States), and South America (Brazil). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

gorilla

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.

Common Stonewort

Chara vulgaris, the common stonewort, is a species of charophyte green alga in the family Characeae, order Charales. It typically grows submerged in freshwater habitats including ponds, lakes, ditches, and slow-moving streams, often forming dense mats on the substrate. The species has a broad geographic distribution spanning Asia, Europe, and the Americas, tolerating a range of water conditions from clear to moderately turbid. Chara vulgaris is notable for its heavily calcified, whorled structure that gives stoneworts their characteristic encrusted appearance and makes them valuable as paleoclimate indicators in sediment records. As a primary producer, it contributes to aquatic food webs and provides habitat for invertebrates and juvenile fish. Biological traits such as individual lifespan, precise growth rates, and specific consumer relationships remain poorly documented in the literature. Despite its wide range, Chara vulgaris is assessed as Endangered by the IUCN, reflecting significant population declines attributed to freshwater pollution, eutrophication, and habitat degradation across much of its range. Targeted conservation of clean, oligotrophic water bodies is essential for its persistence.

gorilla

世界最大の霊長類であるニシゴリラは体重が最大180kgに達し、赤道アフリカの熱帯・亜熱帯の森林に生息する。主に草食性で、群れを守り社会的な対立を仲裁するシルバーバック雄が率いる家族集団を形成する。森林破壊、食肉目的の密猟、エボラウイルス感染症の流行により脅威にさらされており、近絶滅種（CR）に指定されている。