SIR Social Sciences Investigation Abstract
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOR IN AN INFANT GORILLA
Presenter:
Emma L. Cape, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL, 60506; ecape@imsa.edu
Mentor:
Dr. Sue Margulis, Behavioral Research Manager, Brookfield Zoo, 3300 South Golf Road, Brookfield, IL, 60513; 708-485-0263 x438; 708-485-6048; sumargul@brookfieldzoo.org
Abstract:
Nadaya, a three year-old Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), resides with his father, mother, three other related adult females, and two non-related adult females at Brookfield Zoo. As gorillas typically wean and in the wild begin nesting separately from their mothers around the age of three, this time period normally covers significant developments in a gorilla's social behavior pattern. A comparison of 45-50 hours of first and third year all-occurrence and scan behavioral data for Nadaya and his mother shows Nadaya interacting increasingly differentially with individuals other than his mother over the period of three years. This appears to be related more to age than relatedness of animals. However, with an absence of true age-mates (the youngest playmates in the group are 9 years old), he divides his time spent in play more equally among the other individuals in the group than normally would be the case for an immature gorilla. During Nadaya's third year, his mother spends significantly more time alone than she did when Nadaya was regularly in close proximity. The presence of normal social opportunities such as a presence of age mates is known to be important for the development of healthy social behavior in humans, and is likely to be just as critical for the development of normal social behavior in gorillas. Further investigations on gorilla infants in a range of social settings may provide valuable insights.