do female gorillas menstruate? how do they copulate?

Answer 1

As in humans, there is no fixed breeding season for gorillas, and females menstruate every 28 days. A single young, weighing approximately 2 kg, is born after nine months of gestation. Young gorillas nurse for 3 to 4 years. Females give birth at about four-year intervals, beginning when they are approximately ten years of age. However, a high mortality rate means surviving offspring are produced only once every 6 to 8 years. Males, because of physical competition for mates, only rarely breed before the age of 15.

Among gorillas, the females are very assertive when they are in estrus and they approach the male conspicuously and solicit copulation. Female orang-utans are somewhat similar to the gorillas in this respect; orang-utans do their courting in trees, however, gorillas on the ground. Female orang-utans and gorillas live in one-male mating systems, and this their behavior is thought to be an adaptation to their particular type of mating system. In the absence of intermale competition for estrous females (such as when there is only one adult male in the group who does the mating), the male is relatively passive as regards initiating copulation, and the female is more assertive. Among chimpanzees, which live in a multimale mating system, there is considerable intermale competition for estrous females and the males do most of the sexual soliciting. All this occurs primarily during the midcycle phase, about the time of ovulation, when the female is fertile. All these events, hormonal and behavioral, are described as subserving the requirements of reproduction. The sexual behavior is facilitated by the hormonal conditions at the time when impregnation may occur, i.e., when the ovum may be fertilized. The female's condition of estrus, therefore, is seen as the process by which the female and the male are brought together to copulate at the time when it will result in impregnation.

Answer 2

Gorillas are mammals. Mammals feed the young on milk and the gestation or period of pregnancy starts at conception. The embryo forms in the uterus and is surrounded by the the placenta. The placenta is basically a bag which encapsulates the embryo allowing the transfer of fluid rich nutrients between mother and young.
The process of menstruation is getting the mammals uterus ready for ovulation and cleaning out the nursery, so to speak, in preparation for the next go at ovulation or egg producing.
As far as copulation goes, there are definite mating rituals that the Alpha male performs. I will not go into the smelling of the females urine etc, but that is part of it. I suggest you check that one out for yourself.

Answer 3

Yes, like humans, every 28 days. And they copulate as all mammals do, only not as frequently.