Animals Gorillas make travel decisions together

SDA

24.10.2024 - 09:08

Gorillas agree on when to travel.
Gorillas agree on when to travel.
Keystone

Gorillas coordinate their travel movements together. This was shown by observations of western gorillas in the Central African Republic, in which the University of Neuchâtel was also involved.

The report published in "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences" shows that high-ranking individuals in the group determine the direction of travel. However, the timing of the journey is decided by a vote of all adult group members. The individual members signal their travel intentions by grunting.

Three gorilla groups accustomed to humans were examined for the study. The pronounced sexual dimorphism in gorillas, i.e. the differences between the two sexes, had previously indicated that the silverback males had sole decision-making power.

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