The Thin End

With television shows  emotionally uniting children with their long-lost 'real fathers', paternity clearly matters to us humans. Many species show discrimination in rearing their own offspring.  But, it appears not to matter so much to mountain gorillas. Gorilla Fathers from Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund on Vimeo . Recent research published in the journal Animal Behaviour shows that being the biological daddy isn’t so important for male gorillas when it comes to their relationships with the youngsters in the group. What matters is their rank. Mountain gorillas ( Gorilla beringei beringei ) live in groups in the forests of central Africa.  They are unusual among primates because one group, or troop, of gorillas can have more than one male, as well as several females.  So, do the males behave differently to the youngsters in the group? Or do they treat them all the same?  Is there any sign they are distinguishing their 'own' young? Rank more imp...