Eastern Lowland Gorilla - Behaviour

Behaviour

Eastern lowland gorillas tend to be sociable and very peaceful, living in groups of 5 to 30. A group usually consists of one silverback and few subdominant males. Silverbacks are the strong, dominant troop leaders (see alpha male). They are in charge of leading the group to food and protecting the group from danger. Males will slowly begin to leave their original group when they reach maturity, usually traveling with a group of other males for a few years before being able to attract females to form a new group.

Very little is known about the social behaviour, history and ecology of the Eastern Lowland Gorillas primarily because of the civil war taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo making it impossible for researchers to get the data necessary. However, some aspects of social behaviour have been studied. For example, gorillas form harems with usually includes two full-grown males, opposed to one, which was previously believed to be the group structure for this gorilla subspecies. Evidence shows that one third of gorilla groups in East Africa have two grown males in their group.

Most primates are bonded together by the relationship between females. In the Eastern Lowland Gorilla population, the group is held together between each individual female and the silverback, much like a heterosexual Homo sapiens family structure. Once the gorillas reach maturity, both females and males usually leave the group. Females usually join another group or a single lone young adult male, whereas males typically remain together until they find females and establish their own groups. It is commonly believed that the structure of the gorilla group is to prevent predation.