![]() ![]() ![]() Western lowland gorillas typically reside in groups with one adult dominant male, multiple adult females, and their offspring. Gorillas are known for having stable yet competitive social structure. Further, we were able to pair this information with food availability and overall ape distribution across the region.” Costs and benefits “This enabled us to document a broader range of social interactions between wild western lowland gorilla groups than had previously been documented. “Some of the gorillas born in our focal groups have settled in nearby groups and so are familiar with human observers,” she says. “Many of the researchers and trackers have known these particular gorillas for decades and immediately detected when other groups were in the area by the responses of the focal silverback’s reaction,” Sanz says, using a common descriptor for the dominant male in the gorilla social group. “One of the advantages that we had going into this study was the expertise of the research teams who conduct daily follows of these gorilla groups and who had spent years earning the trust of these elusive apes that are typically wary of human presence,” says Crickette Sanz, an associate professor of biological anthropology. In total, researchers spent more than 2,797 days observing interactions between gorilla groups in the Goualougo Triangle and Mondika, located in the northern Republic of Congo. Through a long-term collaboration with the Congolese government and Wildlife Conservation Society, new research is changing perspectives on gorilla behavior, ecology, and health-and how these factors interact in a changing world.īased on years of work following several gorilla groups, the new study paints a more complete picture of the variation in the interactions between neighboring gorilla groups in the forested environment, where western lowland gorillas spend most of their time. While researchers have studied mountain gorillas in East Africa for more than 50 years, relatively little is known about the behavior and social lives of their counterparts in central Africa. “Close encounters between gorilla groups inform their decision making.” Gorilla group dynamics “Females born within the group will eventually leave to join a different group to avoid inbreeding and should be selective about which male’s group they choose,” she says. “They provide a way to gain information about the power of dominant males in neighboring groups and their support systems and also about potential reproductive opportunities. ![]() Louis and first author of the study in the International Journal of Primatology. “Interactions with other groups are critical for wild gorillas,” says Kristena Cooksey, a graduate student of biological anthropology at Washington University in St. While members of different groups were observed engaging in direct competition, gorillas from different groups also engaged in friendly interactions such as play. In a new study, they found that encounters between gorilla groups were much more frequent, and that they had more varied social exchanges than expected.įurther, these interactions seemed to be driven more by defense of mates than food resources. The social lives of gorillas are much more dynamic than previously thought, particularly with regard to interactions between neighboring groups, researchers report. Babies snuggle with their mothers for the night.University Washington University in St. The heavier individuals may nest in grasses on the ground. Many lightweight gorillas nest in trees, making beds of bent branches. At night the animals make a nest to sleep in. Their food includes a variety of plants, along with a few insects and worms. Mountain gorillas spend much of their time eating. Mountain gorillas wander around a home range of up to 15 square miles (39 square kilometers). A silverback's group normally includes a subadult male or two and a few females and their young. This happens when he is between 11 and 13 years old. He's called a silverback because the hair on a male's back turns from black to silvery gray as he matures. The occasional ferocious-looking, impressive displays are generally from a male gorilla protecting his family group from a threat.Ī typical group is led by the biggest and strongest mature male gorilla-often the guy doing any chest pounding or charging. ![]() The animals are peaceful, gentle, social, and mainly vegetarian creatures. But researchers studying gorillas reveal a very different picture of mountain gorillas. For a long time the image most people had of a gorilla encounter included chest pounding, roaring, charging, and big, bared teeth. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |