Individual variation in the growth of captive infant gorillas

Abstract

Serial anthropometric data were obtained during the first year of life of six nursery-reared infant gorillas in the Columbus (Ohio) Zoo. Two of the infants are likely to be monozygotic twins as determined by DNA analysis. Growth curves were fitted to serial measures of cephalo-thoracic-abdominal length, arm length, leg length, head circumference, upper arm circumference, and weight from each gorilla, to describe individual patterns of variation in skeletal growth and body composition. Growth in skeletal measures tended to be curvilinear to varying degrees over the first year of life. Body composition varied more than skeletal measures throughout the first year as a consequence of individual health status. Individual growth and body composition variations appear to reflect both genetic and environmental influences in this small sample of captive infant gorillas.

Twelve-year proximity relationships in a captive group of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, California, USA

“…The average body weight of silverback males is almost twice that of adult females [Dixson, ]. However, during infancy and juvenility, the body weight of both males and females increases steadily with age, with no significant sex differences, from 2 kg at birth to 50 kg at age 6 years [Dixson, ; Bellisari et al, ]. Thereafter, males become much heavier than females [Dixson, ].…”

A Faithful Record of Stressful Life Events Recorded in the Dental Developmental Record of a Juvenile Gorilla

“…Gorillas are of considerable interest because they are closely related to humans and chimpanzees and form part of an African hominoid radiation. A few studies are available on certain aspects of growth in gorillas, including skeletal growth, body mass, and body composition (Bellisari et al, 2001;Bolter and Zihlman, 2002;Shea, 1995, 1996;McFarland and Zihlman, 2001;Randall, 1943a,b;1944;Taylor, 1997). Insights into permanent tooth development in gorillas are more limited and based on much smaller samples (Beynon et al, 1991b;Willoughby, 1978) or focus exclusively on the deciduous dentition (Bellisari et al, 2005;Keiter, 1991).…”

Skeletal and dental development in a sub‐adult western lowland gorilla (gorilla gorilla gorilla)

“…Access to samples from individuals of known age has allowed these sequential developmental stages to be tied to chronological age in a few primate species: tamarins and marmosets (Glassman, ; Schultea et al, ; Kohn et al, ), macaques (Gisler et al, ; Gavan and Hutchinson, ; Cheverud, ; Kimura and Hamada, ), lemurs (Eaglen, ), and chimpanzees and orangutans (Nissen and Riesen, ; Anemone et al, ; Winkler, ). Regrettably, data for known‐age gorillas is lacking and knowledge of gorilla maturation is primarily restricted to the dentition (Moxham and Berkovitz, ; Willoughby, ; Schwartz et al, ) and body size measurements (Willoughby, ; Bellisari et al, , although see McFarlin et al, ; Ruff et al, ).…”

“…What limited research has been conducted on Gorilla demonstrates both intra‐ and interspecific variation in somatic growth and morphology (Schultz, ; Taylor, ; Zihlman and McFarland, ; Bellisari et al, ; McFarlin et al, ; Ruff et al, ; Macho and Lee‐Thorp, ) and in life history strategies (Breuer et al, ; Stoinski et al, ). Differences between G. beringei and G. gorilla are apparent— e.g., mountain gorillas cease brain growth sooner (McFarlin et al, ) and western gorillas later (Macho and Lee‐Thorp, ) than chimpanzees of similar dental stages—and most often attributed to differences in econiches (Taylor, ; Stoinski et al, ).…”