They beat their chests so they don’t have to hit your ass.
The image of King Kong pounding on his chest might seem like the biggest threat. However, German scientists have found that gorillas hit the sternum to avoid – rather than instigate – a fight.
Specifically, pec-pounding advertises the size of the primate, skillfully fights and other practical information, giving rivals an image they would face if they chose to throw, National Geographic reported.
“I’ve found that it’s definitely a real and reliable signal – men are transmitting their true size,” Edward Wright, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told The Guardian. He co-authored the impact study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.
Many have speculated that gorillas communicate size by moob-banging, but “there was no data to support this claim,” according to Roberta Salmi, director of the University of Georgia’s Primate Behavioral Ecology Laboratory.
To prove their thrilling theory, Wright and his team spent 3,000 hours studying endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, National Geographic reported.
They used audio equipment to record the sound frequencies, number and duration of each display in six animals, between November 2015 and July 2016. They then compared these variables with the size of the specimens, which were measured by analyzing animal photographs.
The researchers found that larger gorillas produced lower frequencies than their smaller counterparts, which meant that pectoral percussion was an “honest signal of competitive ability and size, rather than an exaggerated display of threats in the study. Think of a UFC fighter listing his stats for a drunk who puffs his chest at the bar.
“These are big, strong animals that can do a lot of damage.”
Because larger body size correlated with higher social rank – and therefore fighting ability – scientists deduced that transmitting it through the heartbeat could help gorillas avoid violence – a necessity for a species that grows up. at 500 kilograms.
“Even if you’re likely to win a fight, there’s still a pretty high risk factor,” Wright said. “These are big, strong animals that can do a lot of damage.”
“Quite often it’s about beating the chest and then not fighting,” he said, adding that stronger gorillas could be discouraged by a larger silver back, whose bass beating is likely caused by their laryngeal sacs. bigger. In the same vein, an alpha Mighty Joe Young can hear the solo drum of a beta monkey and decide that they are too small to be monkeys.
Along with sizing rivals, hitting the chest could also be used to attract colleagues, according to research.
The next step is to figure out how other gorillas translate the language of the beating.
“It will be very interesting to see how hearing the chest beats in their environment could affect their movements and making decisions about the areas in their area of action to use,” Salmi said.