Gorilla

The Gorilla is a large ape species native to the forests and mountains of the African continent on Earth. A non-sapient (although highly intelligent) and generally gentle gregarious creature with a mainly herbivorous diet, the Gorilla is recognized as one of the closest relatives of the Human race. In the early 19th century the species was usually regarded as folkloric by Europeans, until skeletal specimens were officially described by Thomas S. Savage and Jeffries Wyman in 1847. Popular culture has often done injustice to Gorillas by depicting them as overly aggressive brutes. The Gorilla is indeed strong, due to its huge forearms. It usually adopts a quadrupedal stance, and engages in knuckle-walking for locomotion.

Gorillas in Science Fiction

 * An alien spacecraft crashed in the African jungle in the DC Multiverse resulted in the rise of hyper-intelligent Gorillas with psychic abilities, which built a civilization known as Gorilla City, from which the villainous Grodd was banished. Another sapient Gorilla, Monsieur Mallah, is not a native of Gorilla City but was given intelligence by his master, the Brain.
 * A member of this species was contacted by the Forhilnors and took part in the expedition to find the creator entity in the Betelgeuse system in Robert Sawyer's novel Calculating God.
 * They are one of the Earth species which have been genetically modified, gaining Human intellect, in the web comic Schlock Mercenary.