After 500 times of watching gorillas bang their breasts, scientists found an answer why they do so often

If you were asked to imitate a gorilla, what would you do? Typical movements are quick pats on the chest with two hands one after another, making a thumping sound, so why did the gorilla act like that?
The image of male gorillas hitting their chest with their hands is deeply ingrained in many people’s heads. But why do they like chest banging? It is speculated that the act is to exchange certain information, but no one knows the exact answer to what the information is being conveyed.

Now, the wild mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park has “confessed” to the scientists secretly beating their breasts.

The research has been published in the journal Scientific Reports under Nature and led by Dr. Edward Wright of the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.

The mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei) is one of two eastern gorilla subspecies, comprising two populations. A population found in the Virunga volcano in Central Africa belongs to three national parks: Mgahinga, in southwestern Uganda; Volcanoes, in northwestern Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The remainder was found in Bwindi Prohibited National Park in Uganda. Some primateists consider the Bwindi population a separate subspecies, although no complete description has been made. As of November 2012, an estimated total population of mountain gorillas was 880 individuals.

From January 2014 to July 2016, researchers observed 25 wild male silver-backed gorillas overseen by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International), and recorded more. 500 chest beats.

They recorded the chest beating sounds of six of the gorillas, measured the rhythm and duration of each gorilla’s chest beat, and the frequency of the chest beating sounds. At the same time, they used the photographs to measure the shoulder widths of these gorillas to determine the sizes of different gorillas.

Mountain gorillas are descendants of monkeys and ancient apes found in Africa and Arab in the early Oligocene (34-24 million years ago). The fossil where the mountain gorilla lives is poor and its evolutionary history is unclear. About 9 million years ago, a group of primates evolved into gorillas, separated from their common ancestors with humans and chimpanzees; This is when genus Gorilla comes in. The mountain gorilla split from the eastern delta gorilla about 400,000 years ago and the two subspecies split from the eastern gorilla about 2 million years ago. There is much unresolved debate about the classification of mountain gorillas. The genus Gorilla was originally named Troglodytes in 1847, then renamed as it is today in 1852. By 1967 taxonomist Colin Groves proposed that all Gorilla genus consisted of only one species (Gorilla gorilla) with three Subspecies Gorilla gorilla gorilla (western plains gorilla), Gorilla gorilla graueri (delta gorilla found in western Virungas) and Gorilla gorilla beringei (mountain gorilla). In 2003, after review, gorillas were divided into two species (Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

After analyzing these measurement data, they found that “mountain gorillas can reliably transmit body shape information by beating their chest”. Specifically, large males will emit a lower frequency sound when they strike the chest. Researchers speculate that this may be related to their body’s large resonance cavity.

Researchers also found that males pound their breasts more often during oestrus in female gorillas, so the sound of the chest beats can be an important physical manifestation during flirting, a on the one hand, attracting children, and on the other hand, frightening the opponents.

Interestingly, the beats and timing of these gorillas have nothing to do with body size, and not that the larger the size, the longer the beat. The chest beat of each gorilla is like a behavior showing the different personality, duration and frequency that will carry the characteristics of each individual. Researchers have analyzed that personalized beats could allow other gorillas to distinguish who was beating their chest from them.

Mountain gorillas have been reported to have led to a threat of extinction due to poaching – mountain gorillas are often permanently injured by traps. hunt wild animals or take young individuals to zoos. Occupation – the rapid expansion of people’s settlements around the park’s safety corridor. Disease – mountain gorillas are regularly in contact with tour groups from all over the world, they can completely infect human infections. War, political turmoil – refugees flock to mountainous areas, cut trees and hunt gorillas for their meat for temporary life. Because of the above reasons, the World Animal Protection Organization and the host country government have increased patrols, using armed soldiers to remove traps, in addition to the work of determining the number of Gorillas mountain remaining. Expand the area of ​​the national park, require tour groups to stand away from monkeys, better manage this type of ecotourism. Another important part is educating the local community, spreading propaganda through materials and books and teaching students about biodiversity and protecting this endangered animal.

Ultimately, the scientists concluded that mountain gorillas live in dense rainforests, and sometimes they cannot see each other even when very close, but throbbing conveys personal information. it’s important for them to communicate.