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11 - An introductory perspective: Behavioral ecology of gorillas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2009

By
Caroline E. G. Tutin
Edited by
Andrea B. Taylor  and
Michele L. Goldsmith
Caroline E. G. Tutin
Affiliation:
Centre International de Recherches Médicales Franceville (CIRMF), BP 769 Franceville, Gabon
Andrea B. Taylor
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Michele L. Goldsmith
Affiliation:
Tufts University, Massachusetts
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Summary

Gorillas are probably the most intensely studied primate in terms of the cumulative numbers of years that have been spent collecting data on populations in different habitats across Equatorial Africa. The fact that they have been so well studied permits comparisons of aspects of ecology, social structure, and behavior of gorillas belonging to different subspecies and living in different habitats. Such comparisons allow hypotheses to be tested concerning the influence of a range of factors on social organization. These factors include predation pressure, the distribution of resources in time and space, contest and scramble competition for food, as well as mating strategies of males and females. In addition, integration of data from captive gorillas, as well as comparisons between gorillas and chimpanzees at sites where the two apes occur sympatrically, can add to our understanding of the selective forces that have shaped the evolution of primate social systems.

The four chapters in this section all use a comparative approach to address aspects of gorilla behavioral ecology. Different levels of comparisons are used: Groups within the same population (Goldsmith, this volume; Watts, this volume); neighboring, or more distant, populations living in different habitats (Goldsmith, this volume; Yamagiwa, this volume); the same population in different seasons (Remis, this volume; Yamagiwa, this volume); and some comparisons include data on sympatric chimpanzees (Goldsmith, this volume; Yamagiwa, this volume) or captive gorillas (Remis, this volume; Watts, this volume).

Type
Chapter
Information
Gorilla Biology
A Multidisciplinary Perspective
 , pp. 295 - 301
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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References

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