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The Gorilla Paradox

The Effects of Body Size and Habitat on the Positional Behavior of Lowland and Mountain Gorillas

  • Chapter
Primate Locomotion

Abstract

Gorillas posses general ape adaptations for climbing yet the best studied gorillas in the Virungas depart from the arboreal, frugivorous pattern seen among the other apes. Terrestriality and folivory among gorillas have traditionally been viewed as consequences of their large body size. This study aims to separate the influences of body size from those of habitat on tree climbing by gorillas by comparing the results of 27 months of study of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Bai Hokou, Central African Republic (Remis, 1994, 1995) to published reports on the positional behavior of mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) at Karisoke, Rwanda (Tuttle and Watts, 1985; Doran, 1996).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907-1365, USA

    Melissa J. Remis

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  1. Melissa J. Remis
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, California, USA

    Elizabeth Strasser

  2. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA

    John G. Fleagle

  3. National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C, USA

    Alfred L. Rosenberger

  4. University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA

    Henry M. McHenry

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Remis, M.J. (1998). The Gorilla Paradox. In: Strasser, E., Fleagle, J.G., Rosenberger, A.L., McHenry, H.M. (eds) Primate Locomotion. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0092-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0092-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0094-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0092-0

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