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  1. ; ( , American Journal of Physical Anthropology)
    Abstract Objectives

    Weaning is a key life history milestone for mammals that represents both the end of nutritional investment from the perspective of mothers and the start of complete nutritional independence for the infants. The age at weaning may vary depending on ecological, social, and demographic factors experienced by the mother and infant. Bwindi mountain gorillas live in different environmental conditions and have longer interbirth intervals than their counterparts in the Virunga Volcanoes, yet other life history characteristics of this population remain less well known. We use long‐term data from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda to examine factors related to weaning age.

     Materials and methods

    We analyzed data on infants born in four mountain gorilla groups in Bwindi to quantify their age of weaning (defined as last nipple contact) and to test if the sex of offspring, parity, and dominance rank of mother influences age of weaning. We also compared the age at weaning and time to conception after resumption of mating in Bwindi and Virunga gorillas.

     Results

    Bwindi gorillas were weaned at an average age of 57.5 months. No difference was found between age of weaning for primiparous and multiparous mothers, nor did maternal dominance rank influence age of weaning, but sons were weaned at a later age than daughters. The majority of Bwindi mothers were still suckling when they resumed mating and mothers generally conceived before they weaned their previous offspring. The age of weaning was significantly later in Bwindi than in Virunga gorillas. After mothers resumed mating, the time to conceiving the next offspring was not significantly longer for Bwindi females than Virungas females (6 vs. 4 months).

     Discussion

    Later weaning age for sons than daughters is similar to findings of other studies of great apes. Bwindi mountain gorillas are weaned at approximately the same age as western gorillas and chimpanzees, which is more than a year later than Virunga mountain gorillas. The results of this study suggest that variation in ecological conditions of populations living in close geographic proximity can result in variation in life history patterns, which has implications for understanding the evolution of the unique life history patterns of humans.

     
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  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al ( , Mammalian Biology)
    Parallel-laser photogrammetry is growing in popularity as a way to collect non-invasive body size data from wild mammals. Despite its many appeals, this method requires researchers to hand-measure (i) the pixel distance between the parallel laser spots (inter-laser distance) to produce a scale within the image, and (ii) the pixel distance between the study subject’s body landmarks (inter-landmark distance). This manual effort is time-consuming and introduces human error: a researcher measuring the same image twice will rarely return the same values both times (resulting in within-observer error), as is also the case when two researchers measure the same image (resulting in between-observer error). Here, we present two independent methods that automate the inter-laser distance measurement of parallel-laser photogrammetry images. One method uses machine learning and image processing techniques in Python, and the other uses image processing techniques in ImageJ. Both of these methods reduce labor and increase precision without sacrificing accuracy. We first introduce the workflow of the two methods. Then, using two parallel-laser datasets of wild mountain gorilla and wild savannah baboon images, we validate the precision of these two automated methods relative to manual measurements and to each other. We also estimate the reduction of variation in final body size estimates in centimeters when adopting these automated methods, as these methods have no human error. Finally, we highlight the strengths of each method, suggest best practices for adopting either of them, and propose future directions for the automation of parallel-laser photogrammetry data. 
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  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al ( , Proceedings)
    Mountain gorillas are particularly inbred compared to other gorillas and even the most inbred human populations. As mountain gorilla skeletal material accumulated during the 1970s, researchers noted their pronounced facial asymmetry and hypothesized that it reflects a population-wide chewing side preference. However, asymmetry has also been linked to environmental and genetic stress in experimental models. Here, we examine facial asymmetry in 114 crania from three Gorilla subspecies using 3D geometric morphometrics. We measure fluctuating asymmetry (FA), defined as random deviations from perfect symmetry, and population-specific patterns of directional asymmetry (DA). Mountain gorillas, with a current population size of about 1000 individuals, have the highest degree of facial FA (explaining 17% of total facial shape variation), followed by Grauer gorillas (9%) and western lowland gorillas (6%), despite the latter experiencing the greatest ecological and dietary variability. DA, while significant in all three taxa, explains relatively less shape variation than FA does. Facial asymmetry correlates neither with tooth wear asymmetry nor increases with age in a mountain gorilla subsample, undermining the hypothesis that facial asymmetry is driven by chewing side preference. An examination of temporal trends shows that stress-induced developmental instability has increased over the last 100 years in these endangered apes. 
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