Relationship of Foraging Strategy and Social Organization in Western Lowland Gorillas

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This award will be used to continue a long-term study on the behavioral ecology of the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at the Mondika Research Center, Central African Republic. The primary long-term goal of the study is to determine whether and/or how variation in ecological and social factors influences gorilla sociality, in order to evaluate current models of primate socioecology. Specifically, western lowland gorillas consume foods (fruit and aquatic herbs in swamps) that are more difficult to locate in the environment, compared to the abundant terrestrial herbs of mountain gorillas. Current socioecological thought suggests that differences in food availability may lead to differences in competition within and between groups, and that this in turn will influence the nature of social behavior. Currently, these questions cannot be addressed, because although mountain gorillas have been studied extensively, little is known about western lowland gorillas in the wild. In this study, the researchers will initially habituate two gorilla groups to the presence of people at Mondika, in order to conduct studies of their foraging strategy and social behavior, in addition to studies of resource availability (distribution, abundance and density). This information will allow determination of the role of resource availability in shaping social behavior in African apes, which will in turn, be fundamentally important in understanding how differing ecological factors influenced sociality in our earlier human ancestors.