Locomotor Behavior and Limb Bone Structure in Gorilla

最近的化石发现提供了越来越多的证据表明，早期人类祖先从事各种形式的运动，结合了某种类型的陆地两足步行与不同程度的树栖行为。 然而，很难解释这些差异，部分原因是我们有非常有限的现代类比与化石形式进行比较。 本研究的目的是确定现代大猩猩运动行为的差异如何与骨骼特征的差异相关，以便更好地从化石遗骸中重建早期人类的运动。 大猩猩是一组密切相关的物种和亚种，最近在遗传和生态上都发生了多样化。 东部山地大猩猩居住在高海拔环境中，很少鼓励树木攀爬行为，而西部低地大猩猩居住在雨林环境中，攀爬是一种常见的活动。 还有一个地理上介于两者之间的大猩猩群体，它们栖息在高海拔和低海拔地区，表现出混合的运动行为。 使用来自不同大猩猩种群的博物馆标本，将使用计算机断层扫描和其他测量方法确定四肢骨骼结构特性，并在不同群体之间进行比较。 据推测，肢体骨强度比例将更密切地反映运动行为的差异比其他骨骼特征。 西部低地和山地大猩猩的生长研究也将进行和比较，使用青少年骨骼材料从相同的人口。 从行为研究中得知，山地大猩猩在成长过程中运动行为会发生变化，随着年龄的增长，它们变得不那么喜欢树栖，而西部低地大猩猩则不太喜欢树栖。 据推测，两组中的肢体骨强度比例在婴儿期更相似，此后会有所不同。 这个项目将大大增加我们对骨骼形态和生长的遗传和环境影响的理解。 它涉及PI与比利时和芬兰研究人员之间的国际合作，并为两名研究生提供培训。 该研究产生的数据还将促进对大猩猩生态和种群历史的了解，这将有助于保护这些濒危物种。

Recent fossil discoveries have provided increasing evidence that early human ancestors engaged in a variety of forms of locomotion, combining some type of terrestrial bipedal walking with varying degrees of arboreal behavior. It has been difficult to interpret these differences, however, in part because we have very limited modern analogies to compare with the fossil forms. The goal of the present study is to determine how differences in locomotor behavior in modern gorillas are related to differences in skeletal characteristics, in order to better reconstruct the locomotion of early humans from their fossil remains. Gorillas constitute a group of closely related species and subspecies that have recently diversified, both genetically and ecologically. Eastern mountain gorillas inhabit high altitude environments that encourage very little arboreal climbing behavior, while western lowland gorillas inhabit rainforest environments where climbing is a common activity. There also is a geographically intermediate group of gorillas that inhabits both high and low elevations and that shows a mixture of locomotor behaviors. Using museum specimens from varying gorilla populations, limb bone structural properties will be determined using computed tomography and other measurements, and compared between the different groups. It is hypothesized that limb bone strength proportions will more closely reflect differences in locomotor behavior than will other skeletal characteristics. Growth studies of western lowland and mountain gorillas also will be carried out and compared, using juvenile skeletal material from the same populations. It is known from behavioral studies that mountain gorillas undergo a change in locomotor behavior during growth, becoming less arboreal as they become older, while this is less true for western lowland gorillas. It is hypothesized that limb bone strength proportions in the two groups will be more similar in infancy and diverge thereafter. This project will add significantly to our understanding of genetic and environmental effects on skeletal morphology and growth. It involves an international collaboration between the PI and researchers in Belgium and Finland, and provides training for two graduate students. The data generated by the study also will promote understanding of living gorilla ecology and population history, which will aid in conservation efforts for these Endangered species.