Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 22, Issue 3, August 1974, Pages 568-581
Animal Behaviour

Observations on the home range of one group of mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringel)

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(74)80002-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Factors influencing the home range of a typical group (ten to seventeen individuals) of mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei) over a 60-month period are discussed. Three other gorilla groups lived nearby and shared the group's home range. Vegetation zones were defined in terms relevant to the gorillas' needs, and the home range was divided into equal grid squares, each of one sixteenth of a square kilometre. The observer's contacts with the group within each square provide data on the relative utilization of different areas. The physical aspects of the six vegetation zones are discussed, and five types of travel within the various zones are defined. The current expansion of the home range is described. The presence or absence of other gorilla groups and/or individuals appeared to be the strongest determinant of the range patterns of the study group, though food distribution may have played some role in movements between vegetation zones or parts of the range.

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