The Thinker - by Jason Morgan
International wildlife Artist

The Silver Back mountain gorilla is certainly an awesome creature - weighing up to 400lb and standing 5 1/2 to 6ft tall! They can eat up to 60 pounds of food per day! But as large as they are, they are very gentle by nature, just like another giant - the elephant. Gorillas have one main predator / threat to their survival - MAN.

I had a real desire to paint this silverback as soon as I saw his thought provoking pose - "What was going on inside his mind? Nobody will ever know, but every time I see it I wonder if the mountain gorilla will survive through my young son's generation.

The gorilla reference images for this painting were supplied by superb photographer Mike O Johnson
© mikeojohnson photography