Why do Gorillas Beat Their Chests?
Gorillas use chest-beating as a way to communicate with each other, with larger males producing lower frequency pounds to convey their social status, strength, and size to fellow apes.
Male gorillas often beat their chests to convey information to other gorillas. This behavior was previously thought to be a display of dominance and attraction to females.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, studied 25 wild adult male silverback gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park to understand the significance of these chest beats.
Using a non-invasive technique called the parallel laser method; they measured the gorillas’ body size and recorded the chest beats with a directional microphone and recorder.
The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports, shedding light on the communication aspect of this iconic behavior.
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What Chest Beats Communicate?
The researchers collected a total of 36 chest beat sound recordings from six different male gorillas. They specifically focused on aggressive displays involving chest beats directed at members of the same species. This data was then utilized to determine a chest beat rate for each male gorilla.
“We were able to demonstrate that mountain gorilla chest beats effectively communicate information about the body size of the chest beater. This suggests that the chest beat serves as an honest indicator of body size,” Wright explains.
In previous studies, his team established that larger males tend to be more dominant than smaller males in groups with numerous males. They also found a correlation between body size and reproductive success.
“Being large is a crucial factor for male gorillas,” Wright emphasizes.
In this recent research, the team uncovered that body size is reliably communicated to other gorillas through chest beats. Larger male gorillas produced chest beats with lower peak frequencies compared to smaller male gorillas.
“This is significant because we believe that rival males are likely to utilize this information to assess the size of the gorilla emitting the chest beats.
This will assist them in determining whether to engage, escalate, or withdraw from conflicts. It’s not advisable to challenge a larger male, as the outcome is likely to be unfavorable,” he states.
“The potential for injury, and even fatality, is substantial in these large and powerful animals,” Wright further explains. “We propose that chest beats play a crucial role in these conflicts, leading to the resolution of most disputes without resorting to physical combat. Conversely, females are expected to consider the body size information conveyed through chest beats when selecting mates.”
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Where to See Gorillas?
To comprehend the behavior and human-like characteristics of these rare and valuable primates, one must venture to the misty rainforests of central Africa where they roam, in order to encounter our not-so-distant relatives face-to-face.
Spending time with the mountain gorillas in Africa, charismatic and magical forest creatures, is certain to have a profound impact on your life as you observe their individual and group behaviors within their family unit.
Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda, Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of Congo, and Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (which we’re currently pausing travel to due to unrest) have been identified as supporting sustainable and safe gorilla observation based on our personal gorilla trekking experiences.
As gorillas strive to survive in our modern world, any time spent with them at these national parks is an extraordinary experience. There are four different types of gorillas: mountain gorilla, Grauer’s gorilla, western lowland gorilla, and cross river gorilla (only found in Nigeria and Cameroon).
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