Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2009
Introduction
Recent field, morphological, and molecular studies have increased our knowledge of variation in behavior, morphology, and genetics among the different subspecies of Gorilla. The behavioral and morphological variation between the eastern mountain gorilla (Gorilla gorilla beringei) and western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is more extensive than previously thought, and mountain gorillas are viewed as more terrestrial and less arboreal than western lowland gorillas. This behavioral difference between mountain and western lowland gorillas is purportedly associated with different habitats, social organization, and a suite of morphological features.
Work that examines and evaluates the extent of morphological and behavioral variation among the subspecies of Gorilla is important for a number of reasons. Western lowland gorillas are more arboreal than previously thought (e.g., Fay, 1989; Fay et al., 1989; Remis, 1995, 1998), while mountain gorillas are more terrestrial and climb trees less (Akeley, 1929; Schaller, 1963; Fossey, 1983; Watts, 1984; Tuttle and Watts, 1985; Doran, 1996). Morphological differences in the postcranium presumably relate to differences between mountain and western lowland gorillas in postural and locomotor behavior, associated with greater arboreality in the latter. Although some studies have examined the subspecific morphological variation of the postcranium in adult Gorilla (e.g., Schultz, 1927, 1930, 1934; Groves, 1972; Jungers and Susman, 1984; Larson, 1995; Sarmiento and Marcus, 2000) we need to supplement these studies of variation in mountain and lowland gorilla postcrania from an ontogenetic perspective (Inouye, 1992, 1994a, b; Taylor, 1995, 1997a, b; Inouye and Shea, 1997).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.