Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Epigraph
- Introduction: Gorilla biology: Multiple perspectives on variation within a genus
- Part 1 Gorilla taxonomy and comparative morphology
- 1 An introductory perspective: Gorillas – How important, how many, how long?
- 2 A history of gorilla taxonomy
- 3 Patterns of diversity in gorilla cranial morphology
- 4 The hierarchy of intraspecific craniometric variation in gorillas: A population-thinking approach with implications for fossil species recognition studies
- 5 Morphological differentiation of Gorilla subspecies
- 6 Ontogeny and function of the masticatory complex in Gorilla: Functional, evolutionary, and taxonomic implications
- 7 Intraspecific and ontogenetic variation in the forelimb morphology of Gorilla
- Part 2 Molecular genetics
- Part 3 Behavioral ecology
- Part 4 Gorilla conservation
- Afterword
- Index
- References
7 - Intraspecific and ontogenetic variation in the forelimb morphology of Gorilla
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Epigraph
- Introduction: Gorilla biology: Multiple perspectives on variation within a genus
- Part 1 Gorilla taxonomy and comparative morphology
- 1 An introductory perspective: Gorillas – How important, how many, how long?
- 2 A history of gorilla taxonomy
- 3 Patterns of diversity in gorilla cranial morphology
- 4 The hierarchy of intraspecific craniometric variation in gorillas: A population-thinking approach with implications for fossil species recognition studies
- 5 Morphological differentiation of Gorilla subspecies
- 6 Ontogeny and function of the masticatory complex in Gorilla: Functional, evolutionary, and taxonomic implications
- 7 Intraspecific and ontogenetic variation in the forelimb morphology of Gorilla
- Part 2 Molecular genetics
- Part 3 Behavioral ecology
- Part 4 Gorilla conservation
- Afterword
- Index
- References
Summary
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).
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- Gorilla BiologyA Multidisciplinary Perspective, pp. 194 - 236Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002