The emanating drumming sound can be heard over one kilometre away. The presumed function of gorilla chest beats is to attract females and intimidate rival males.
When gorillas beat their chests they show how big their body is, assess the fighting ability of rivals and attract mates, according to new research. The sounds the beating makes may also allow individual gorillas to be identified across dense forests, researchers in Germany have found.
Scientists believe gorillas use these chest beats as a nonvocal communication to both attract females and intimidate potential rivals. With both acoustic and visual elements, this long-distance signal is most commonly performed by adult males (silverbacks) and can be heard more than 0.62 miles (1 kilometer) away.
Alpha means combat. When you pound your chest that means you have challenged the gorilla for the right to mate with females. You want to battle for the right to mate. You have willingly entered into combat.
To Mountain Gorillas, anyone who keeps a direct eye contact is a challenger and an enemy who has come to disrupt the family. Direct eye contact will, therefore, trigger the silverback to charge and fight you in defense of his family. If you want peace with Gorillas, therefore, avoid direct eye contact.
Walk away steadily: When the gorilla is charged, you are advised not to run away because the gorilla will run after you and attack you rather you are advised to create distance between you and the gorilla without making sudden movements, step back slowly and get off the scene.
You may occasionally see gorillas communicate in a couple of different ways by showing their teeth. One being “bared-teeth”, where the mouth is open and both rows of teeth are showing. This is a sign of submission or appeasement and is thought to be tied to the origins of human smiling.
Male gorillas beat their chest to signal dominance to other males, but also their reproductive value to females. A silverback beating its chest. Credit: Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The sight of a gorilla beating its chest is one of the most iconic in the animal kingdom.
Facial expressions and vocalizations are the primary means for communicating about emotion among primates.
A gorilla may vocalize loudly and pound, jump or slap the ground if angry. Gorillas that are curious will just grab or tug your clothes. Gorillas hate looking directly into their eyes, so try as much as possible to look away.
Though they are often portrayed as dangerous and aggressive, the truth is that gorillas are gentle giants. They are shy and retiring by nature, and usually only become aggressive when they feel threatened.
Severe aggression is rare in stable gorilla groups, but when two groups meet, the leading silverbacks can sometimes engage in a fight to the death, mainly using their sharp canines to cause deep, gaping injuries.
When things are calmer, gorillas often greet each other by touching their noses together, and will sometimes even give a reassuring embrace. The females align themselves with their leader, openly soliciting mating. It is the silverback's job to keep the group safe from outsiders, but it pays to be in his good graces.
Gorillas are social animals and only become aggressive towards humans when they feel threatened. Although there have been close encounters between gorillas and humans over the past decades, very minimal of these incidents have led to death of a human being.
Myth: Chimps can smile like humans do.
Chimps make this expression when they are afraid, unsure, stressed, or wanting to appear submissive to a more dominant troop member. The closest expression chimps have to a smile is a play face.
Like humans or other wild animals, gorillas do get aggressive. However, they do so only when they feel threatened or when a silverback from another group attempts to steal one of the females. Gorillas will first attempt to warn off an intruder by making loud grunts and tearing down vegetation.
Certain reptiles such as chameleons and caterpillars are what are gorillas scared/afraid of. They are also afraid of water and will cross streams only if they can do so without getting wet, such as by crossing over fallen logs, and dislike rain.
When a female gorilla is ready to mate, she will approach the dominant male slowly, make sustained eye contact and purse her lips. Should the male not respond, she will attract his attention by slapping the ground as she reaches towards him.
Although smiling is often associated with submissive or non-aggressive behavior in gorillas, eye contact is a practice that is discouraged by primatologists, as apes are likely to interpret eye contact as a challenge or a form of aggressive display.
Cognition, and empathy
Adult gorillas have been seen destroying snares and poaching traps in the past, but scientists have never seen this kind of activity in gorillas at such a young age. This sighting suggests not only unexpected cognitive skill but also a level of empathy for other animals.
The most common vocalization made by gorillas are belches.
Belch vocalizations are used to convey a sense of contentment between individuals. It is most often initiated by a silverback, followed by the rest of the group.
Gorillas show their signs of anger by throwing vegetation, making loud hoots, thumping the ground, beating their chests loud, moving on two legs and so much more.
Predators. Leopards and crocodiles are large carnivores which may prey upon gorillas. Humans are the greatest threat to all gorilla populations.
Generally, gorillas are very shy and reserved towards people. They will attack only if they are surprised or threatened or if a person behaves in the wrong way. If the human makes an unexpected movement, the silverback male can react with horrific roaring and bluff charges.
How does gorilla show respect? Gorillas are like humans, when things are calmer, gorillas often greet one another by touching their noses together, what an emotional sign of greeting they have, sometimes gorillas can give a reassuring embrace.