3/30/2023 0 Comments Alpha zoo webshop![]() They also looked at which males were dominant in the group. The researchers looked at the amount of time the gorillas spent grooming each other and playing, and noted every ten minutes which gorillas were physically close to one another. The researchers followed gorillas in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and monitored the way the males and infants interacted. Gorillas are charismatic research subjects While statistically they are the most likely father, many infants are sired by other males. Instead, they found that a male gorilla’s dominance rank had a stronger influence on its relationships with infants alpha males tend to be more nurturing and have stronger relationships with infants in the troop. They analyzed more than 1,500 hours of data and found that there is no evidence to suggest that gorillas have a way of recognizing their own offspring or father. The researchers wanted to determine whether gorillas have evolved a way of recognizing their own offspring or father. For animals that live in groups with only one male, this is not necessary because the male is most likely the father of all the infants in the group. Primates like chimpanzees that live in troops with more than one male have a way of recognizing which infants belong to which males. The new study is the first behavioral evidence to support the theory. They also have very small testicles relative to their body size, and their sperm swim slowly – probably because historically there was little sperm competition from other males. When living in groups with only one male, gorillas would need to fight to get females from other groups, and to defend females in their own group. Male gorillas also have huge canines and thick muscle on their heads, which makes them better fighters. "Gorillas are very special animals. You look at them and start to see your own behavior differently." The main characteristic is the difference in size between males and females, which is called sexual dimorphism: males are up to twice as big as females, which is the biggest size difference of any living primate. Scientists often refer to gorillas’ physical features as evidence of their previous history of living in groups with only one male. “Thanks to advances in molecular genetics, we now know that’s not always true, though in this particular species, it turns out that assumption was correct.” Behavioral evidence for social change Stacy Rosenbaum, a biological anthropologist at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. “For a long time there was an assumption that monkeys and apes didn’t know who their fathers were in groups with multiple males,” said lead author Dr. The results show that being the biological father does not influence the way male gorillas interact with infants, suggesting that their social structure is relatively new. However, scientists believe that this has not always been the case earlier in their evolution, mountain gorillas may have lived in troops with only one male and several females.įor the new study, researchers tracked the way male mountain gorillas interact with infants to see if their behavior is similar to other primates that live in troops with more than one male. One group, or troop, of gorillas can have more than one male as well as several females. Mountain gorillas – Gorilla beringei beringei – live in groups in the forests of central Africa. The authors, from the University of California, Los Angeles, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Atlanta and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig say their findings support the theory that for most of their evolution, gorillas lived in groups with one male and several females. Or is he the daddy? New research says it doesn’t really matter – it’s the male gorilla’s rank in the group that makes the difference when it comes to bonding with the kids.Ī new study published in Animal Behaviour shows that higher-ranking gorillas form stronger relationships with infants, regardless of whether they are related. Who’s your daddy? If you’re a gorilla, it doesn’t matter New research shows rank matters more than paternity for males’ relationships with infantsĪ large male mountain gorilla sits next to the baby of the group, painstakingly picking away at the baby’s head: it’s grooming time in the forest, and the gorilla daddy is doing his duty.
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