Silverback Gorillas Beat Their Chests to Communicate, Shows How Big They Are

A new study has shown silverback gorillas stand up and beat their chest as a form of communication. Examination of these gorillas in Rwanda shows a male's drumming nose is conveying how big they are, as well as their identity.

Mail Online reported that German scientists discovered that larger gorillas are making deeper noise when they smack their chests. Their smaller peers and every individual's thwacking pattern is also distinctive.

It is thought that when silverbacks are hitting their muscular torsos that are broadcasting their dominance and size to opposing males as they simultaneously try to impress female gorillas who may be potential mates.

The research entitled, "Chest beats as an honest signal of body size in male mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)" and published in Scientific Reports, studied a video that the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund took of 25 male gorillas living in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda and quantified their body size by measuring the distance between their shoulder blades.

Gorilla Chest Beat

For every gorilla, the number of beats, as well as the beat rate were recorded. The animal's stature and age were recorded, too.

As part of the study, six males were audio-recorded as well, capturing 36 chest beats in all and the duration of beating, the number of hits, and how frequently the noise was produced.

The audio recordings revealed a link between the frequency and body size of the gorilla. As a result, bigger males produced a deeper sound.

According to the study's first author, Edward Wright, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the gorilla chest beat is one of those iconic sounds heard from the animal kingdom, and thus, it is great that they have been able to present that "body size is encoded" in their remarkable exhibitions.

As described in the report, Gorilla chest beats are not considered vocalizations. Rather, they are regarded as a form of gestural communication that can both be heard and seen.

Silverback Gorilla Behavior

The drumming noise as a strong silverback gorilla hits his chest hard can be heard from more than one kilometer away.

The study investigators believe the lower frequency sounds are produced by larger animals since they have bigger air sacs surrounding their voice box which is amplifying the sound.

Differences in both the number and duration of chest beats were observed as well from the visual recordings although, these are not associated with body size.

A similar report from MSN.com said, the research team believes instead that the differences in the number of beats, beat rate, and total duration may enable individual gorillas to be identified, functioning as an audio signature.

This then would help gorillas identify one another through the dense forests in which they reside, the study authors speculated.

According to Wright, this clues the probability that chest beats may have individual signatures, although more extensive research is needed for this to be tested.

The study investigators believe that chest beating may help in assessing the rivals' fighting ability. They claimed that female gorillas, on the other hand, possibly use the information in the quest for potential mates.

A similar report is shown on knockbaun's YouTube video below:

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