Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Male-immature relationships in the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)

本项目的目的是了解成年雄性山地大猩猩与未成熟山地大猩猩（Gorilla beringei beringei）之间社会关系的近似机制、形式和进化功能。该项目将解决四个主要问题：1)雄性和未成熟的大猩猩能够区分亲缘关系和非亲缘关系吗？2)这种关系是否由激素介导，特别是通过睾酮和催乳素？3)男性不成熟的关系如何随着时间的推移而变化？4)是否有证据支持关于这些关系功能的其他假设？研究人员将对至少四组生活在卢旺达火山公园的习性大猩猩进行行为观察，并由卡里索克研究中心进行监测。成年雄鼠和未成熟雄鼠每周随访4天，记录所有相关行为。激素数据将采用非侵入性方法收集，特别是收集成年男性的尿液样本和收集男性、母亲和未成熟者的粪便样本。激素将从卢旺达的样本中提取，然后运往伊利诺伊州芝加哥的林肯公园动物园进行分析。父亲的角色在非人类灵长类动物中是不同的，但迄今为止，对非一夫一妻制物种和类人猿的研究很少。山地大猩猩是一个有趣的研究物种，因为它们高度灵活的社会结构，包括多雄性和单雄性群体，因此与人类交配系统的多样性有相似之处。这个项目将让我们深入了解不同交配系统中父系行为的起源，以及它对后代的短期和长期影响。该奖项将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究事业。

The purpose of this project is to understand the proximate mechanisms, form, and evolutionary function(s) of social relationships between adult male and immature mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei). The project will address four primary questions: 1) are male and immature gorillas capable of distinguishing paternal kin from non-kin? 2) are such relationships hormonally mediated, specifically through testosterone and prolactin? 3) how do male-immature relationships change over time as immatures grow? and 4) is there evidence to support alternative hypotheses about the function of these relationships? Behavioral observations will be conducted on at least four groups of habituated gorillas living in Parc des Volcans, Rwanda, and monitored by the Karisoke Research Center. Adult males and immatures will be followed four days per week, and all relevant behaviors recorded. Hormonal data will be collected using non-invasive methods, specifically collection of urine samples from adult males and collection of fecal samples from males, mothers, and immatures. Hormones will be extracted from the samples in Rwanda before being shipped to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois for analysis. The role of fathers is variable across non-human primate species, but to date little research has been conducted on non-monogamous species and great apes. Mountain gorillas are an interesting study species because of their highly flexible social structure, which includes both multi and single-male groups, and therefore bears similarities to variability in human mating systems. This project will give us insight into the origins of paternal behavior in different mating systems and the implications it has for offspring, in both the short and long term. This award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.