Association patterns of female gorillas

Social interactions ultimately impact health and fitness in gregarious mammals. However, research focusing on the strength of affiliative interactions has primarily been conducted on female philopatric species. Gorillas provide an interesting counterpoint to previous research as females emigrate mul...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2023-01, Vol.378 (1868), p.20210429-20210429
Main Authors: Young, Christopher, Robbins, Martha M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Female
Gorilla gorilla
Humans
Male
Mammals
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Summary:Social interactions ultimately impact health and fitness in gregarious mammals. However, research focusing on the strength of affiliative interactions has primarily been conducted on female philopatric species. Gorillas provide an interesting counterpoint to previous research as females emigrate multiple times throughout their lives. We compare female-female association strength, duration and consistency in wild mountain ( ) and western gorillas ( ). Additionally, we examine whether the alpha male influences female association strength and if these associations are an artefact of both females concurrently in spatial proximity of the alpha male. In this between-species comparison, female gorillas had differentiated association patterns that were consistent on average for 2 years. The alpha males did not influence female association strength, with associations being similar in his presence or absence. Finally, we found more variability in association patterns among mountain gorillas with higher average association scores and higher proportion of 'preferred associates' than western gorillas. The rare dispersal pattern in the genus may lead to greater flexibility in female association patterns than in species exhibiting female philopatry and strong kinship bonds. This may echo ancestral human society and provide new evidence to help us understand the evolution of modern human society. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2021.0429