Male Parental Behavior in a Captive Group of Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Abstract

A captive group of lowland gorillas, consisting of an adult silverback male and three females with infants was studied for evidence of male parental behavior. The adult male socially approached, attempted to contact, touched and held/carried the infants, but did so differentially. The frequency of these adult male-infant interactions was directly related to the strength of the affiliation bond between the adult male and the respective mothers. However, during the course of the study, the male’s behavior toward the infants became less dependent upon immediately prior contact with their mothers. It is proposed that the adult male regulated his interactions with different infants, i.e. his parental investment, according to the strength of his affiliation bond with their mothers. Since under natural conditions, affiliative bonding probably promotes paternity confidence, male parental investment related to affiliative bonding increases the probability that the investment is made in the male’s own offspring.