I'm currently a part-time adjunct professor at the University of Barcelona, teaching in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology. Before being at the University of Barcelona, I was a postdoctoral scientist at the Hard Tissue Biology Lab, at the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology - GWU (where I'm still a Research Associate). See more details in my website: jordigalbany.com
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Desde hace décadas los grandes simios han sido habituados a la presencia humana para poder realizar proyectos de investigación. En algunos proyectos incluso se ha incorporado el factor turismo, es decir ofrecer al visitante la experiencia de poder observar estos primates en libertad. Pero, ¿es nuestra presencia causante de alteraciones en su comportamiento o en su salud? ¿Con la habituación estamos afectando negativamente a los grandes simios?. Ilustraciones: Natàlia Sellés.
Papers
ABSTRACT: Body size is a key determinant of male fighting ability and reproductive success in many animal species, but relationships between these variables have only rarely been examined in group-living animals in which body size often correlates with dominance rank. We examined the relationships between body size (crest height, back breadth and body length), dominance rank, alpha male tenure length, number of adult females and patterns of aggression in 26 wild adult male mountain gorillas, Gorilla beringei beringei, living in multimale groups. A composite measure combining crest height and back breadth (variables were highly correlated and combined into a cresteback score), but not body length, significantly correlated with dominance rank, alpha male tenure length and number of adult females per group. The alpha male had the largest cresteback score in six of the seven groups, and in the majority of dyads the male with the higher cresteback score was higher ranking. The frequency (and intensity on mating days) of aggressive contests was higher between males close in rank. Additionally, aggression occurred more frequently when the initiator was larger than the recipient. Our results suggest that factors other than body size are likely to influence dominance rank, but large size helps males attain and retain high dominance rank, probably leading to greater reproductive success. Further studies on how the timing and intensity of maleemale competition influences life history trade-offs between investment in secondary sexual characteristics, body condition and survival may explain variance in lifetime reproductive success within and between species.
Keywords: aggression, alpha male tenure length, body size, dominance rank, Gorilla beringei beringei, number of females, sexual selection
Desde hace décadas los grandes simios han sido habituados a la presencia humana para poder realizar proyectos de investigación. En algunos proyectos incluso se ha incorporado el factor turismo, es decir ofrecer al visitante la experiencia de poder observar estos primates en libertad. Pero, ¿es nuestra presencia causante de alteraciones en su comportamiento o en su salud? ¿Con la habituación estamos afectando negativamente a los grandes simios?. Ilustraciones: Natàlia Sellés.
ABSTRACT: Body size is a key determinant of male fighting ability and reproductive success in many animal species, but relationships between these variables have only rarely been examined in group-living animals in which body size often correlates with dominance rank. We examined the relationships between body size (crest height, back breadth and body length), dominance rank, alpha male tenure length, number of adult females and patterns of aggression in 26 wild adult male mountain gorillas, Gorilla beringei beringei, living in multimale groups. A composite measure combining crest height and back breadth (variables were highly correlated and combined into a cresteback score), but not body length, significantly correlated with dominance rank, alpha male tenure length and number of adult females per group. The alpha male had the largest cresteback score in six of the seven groups, and in the majority of dyads the male with the higher cresteback score was higher ranking. The frequency (and intensity on mating days) of aggressive contests was higher between males close in rank. Additionally, aggression occurred more frequently when the initiator was larger than the recipient. Our results suggest that factors other than body size are likely to influence dominance rank, but large size helps males attain and retain high dominance rank, probably leading to greater reproductive success. Further studies on how the timing and intensity of maleemale competition influences life history trade-offs between investment in secondary sexual characteristics, body condition and survival may explain variance in lifetime reproductive success within and between species.
Keywords: aggression, alpha male tenure length, body size, dominance rank, Gorilla beringei beringei, number of females, sexual selection
Abstract
There is much debate on the dietary adaptations of the robust hominin lineages during the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition. It has been argued that the shift from C3 to C4 ecosystems in Africa was the main factor responsible for the robust dental and facial anatomical adaptations of Paranthropus taxa, which might be indicative of the consumption of fibrous, abrasive plant foods in open environments. However, occlusal dental microwear data fail to provide evidence of such dietary adaptations and are not consistent with isotopic evidence that supports greater C4 food intake for the robust clades than for the gracile australopithecines. We provide evidence from buccal dental microwear data that supports softer dietary habits than expected for P. aethiopicus and P. boisei based both on masticatory apomorphies and isotopic analyses. On one hand, striation densities on the buccal enamel surfaces of paranthropines teeth are low, resembling those of H. habilis and clearly differing from those observed on H. ergaster, which display higher scratch densities indicative of the consumption of a wide assortment of highly abrasive foodstuffs. Buccal dental microwear patterns are consistent with those previously described for occlusal enamel surfaces, suggesting that Paranthropus consumed much softer diets than previously presumed and thus calling into question a strict interpretation of isotopic evidence. On the other hand, the significantly high buccal scratch densities observed in the H. ergaster specimens are not consistent with a highly specialized, mostly carnivorous diet; instead, they support the consumption of a wide range of highly abrasive food items.
diet are related to tooth wear in wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) from Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda.
Material and Methods: We calculated the percent of dentine exposure (PDE) for all permanent molars (M1–M3) of known-age mountain gorillas (N523), to test whether PDE varied with age using regression analysis. For each molar position, we also performed stepwise multiple linear regression to test the effects of age and percentage of time spent feeding on different food categories on PDE, for individuals subject to long-term observational studies by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International’s Karisoke Research Center.
Results: PDE increased significantly with age for both sexes in all molars. Moreover, a significant effect of gritty plant root consumption on PDE was found among individuals. Our results support prior reports indicating reduced tooth wear in mountain gorillas compared to western gorillas, and compared to other known-aged samples of primate taxa from forest and savanna habitats.
Discussion: Our findings corroborate that mountain gorillas present very low molar wear, and support the hypothesis that age and the consumption of particular food types, namely roots, are significant determinants of tooth wear variation in mountain gorillas. Future research should characterize the mineral composition of the soil in the Virunga habitat, to test the hypothesis that the physical and abrasive properties of gritty foods such as roots influence intra and interspecific patterns of tooth wear.