Social structure and agonistic behaviour in western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) group in Prague ZOO

In our research we analysed social structure, interindividual relationships and social and agonistic behaviour in captive gorillas. Data were obtained from a group of six western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) individuals during a continuous one year period observation in Prague ZOO. We assumed, that silverback is dominant to other individuals in the group and that there is no long-term social hierarchy between adult females. Likewise, that afiliative and agonistic behaviour is distributed unequal within the group and that the high-level visit rate increases the agonistic behaviour of gorillas. Sampling methods were: ad libitum sampling, focal animal sampling and all occurence sampling. For statistical data analysis we used specialized software (Noldus - MatMan LO). We confirmed, that the silverback has dominant position in the group and relationships between females are egalitarian. Afiliative contacts were observed only between females and young individuals or in young induviduals with each other. There is an unequal distribution of agonistic behaviour in the group and silverback's agonistic behaviour appears to response to agonistic encounters in females. The influence of highlevel visit rate to agonistic behaviour occurence were not confirmed. Our conclusion is, that gorillas in Prague ZOO,..