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Adventures in history Why do gorillas hit their breasts? Explain the science!

Recent research, published in Scientific Reports, has provided an explanation of the behavior of these primates

Giovanna Gomez, supervised by Thiago Lincoln Posted on 04/05/2021 at 15h29

According to a recent study Scientific reports were published in the scientific journalThe bigger the male gorilla, the better it can hit his chest, because that’s how he shows others how strong he is.

Through this act, the animal tells the other males not to seek a fight, in addition, in this way it also tries to persuade the females.

Since gorillas live in flocks that usually consist of one male and several females, and they can always switch groups, they struggle to get their attention. According to the BBC, potential partners, on the other hand, always care about the way males strike their chests, as well as the sound they make and rate them.

Gorillas flick their chests to show how powerful they are / Credit: Getty Images

Communication meanings

The article also reveals that these blows to the chest are so loud that they can be heard from a distance of over a kilometer.

For scientists, who have been studying these animals for a long time, the strange thing is the way gorillas communicate.

“We assumed for a long time that this was kind of showing how strong they are, and they do it for both males and females,” he said. Edward WrightFrom the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Image copyright Getty Images: Beating the chest is a form of communication

“For males, the message is:“ Look, I’m old and strong, don’t mess with me, ”and for women:“ Look, I’m so old and strong, you might want to choose me as a partner. ”This practice, according to scientists, has been carried out by these animals from a young age.

Deep voices

I have seen He states that “for the first time we can ensure that the size of the body is transmitted through these protrusions on the chest, which is a clear indication of the size of the body.”

The published study revealed that taller males make deeper sounds when they tap their chest. This will, in turn, show the animal’s body size.

Male gorillas try to impress the rest of the group / Credit: Getty Images

As the research indicates, the sounds are likely related to the size of the air sacs near the larynx of gorillas and some other similar animals.

Another observation made by the experts in the study is that each male performs a certain number of strokes. The duration of the performance also varies with the animal that clones it, indicating that the limbs can only be recognized by blows to the chest.


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