Origin of the HIV-1 group O epidemic in western lowland gorillas.

Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) change their activity patterns in response to frugivory.

The most important environmental factor explaining interspecies variation in ecology and sociality of the great apes is likely to be variation in resource availability. Relatively little is known about the activity patterns of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), which inhabit a dramatically different environment from the well-studied mountain gorillas (G. beringei beringei). Thi...

Three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis of talar morphology in extant gorilla taxa from highland and lowland habitats.

Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are known to climb significantly more often than eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei), a behavioral distinction attributable to major differences in their respective habitats (i.e., highland vs. lowland). Genetic evidence suggests that the lineages leading to these taxa began diverging from one another between approximately 1 and 3 million years ago. Thus, gori...

Interunit, environmental and interspecific influences on silverback-group dynamics in western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Food cleaning in gorillas: Social learning is a possibility but not a necessity

Food cleaning is widespread in the animal kingdom, and a recent report confirmed that (amongst other behaviours) wild western lowland gorillas also show food cleaning. The authors of this report conclude that this behaviour, based on its distribution patterns, constitutes a potential candidate for culture. While different conceptualisations of culture exist, some more and some less reliant on b...

Proposal for the Inclusion of Species on the Appendices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

The most usual present treatment, however, recognises the western and eastern populations as separate full species, Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei respectively. The eastern and western populations are separated by approximately 1,000 km (Garner and Ryder, 1996). Western and eastern populations can be distinguished based on external features (Groves, 2002) and clear geographic and morpholo...