Parnell Richard J
Wildlife Conservation Society, New York Zoological Society, Bronx, New York, USA.
Am J Primatol. 2002 Apr;56(4):193-206. doi: 10.1002/ajp.1074.
This paper describes the size and structure of western lowland gorilla groups visiting Mbeli Bai, a swampy forest clearing in northern Congo. An observation platform at the edge of the clearing was used over a 3-yr period, with gorillas visible for 1,681 hr. Data are presented on 14 groups and seven solitary males. Mean group size (excluding solitary males) was 8.4 +/- SD 4.3, and did not differ significantly from most other gorilla studies. All groups at Mbeli contained only one fully mature male and did not show evidence of fission-fusion or regular subgrouping. All emigrating males that remained in the population became solitary, and "bachelor" groups were not observed. Methodological issues are raised, including the classification of multi-male groups, and the demographic profiles of other populations are discussed in the light of results from Mbeli.
本文描述了前往姆贝利白地（位于刚果北部的一片沼泽森林空地）的西部低地大猩猩群体的规模和结构。在3年的时间里，使用了位于空地边缘的一个观察平台，共观察到大猩猩1681小时。文中给出了关于14个群体和7只独居雄性大猩猩的数据。平均群体规模（不包括独居雄性）为8.4±标准差4.3，与大多数其他大猩猩研究结果无显著差异。姆贝利的所有群体都只包含一只完全成熟的雄性，没有显示出裂变融合或常规亚群体的迹象。所有留在种群中的迁出雄性都变成了独居，未观察到“单身汉”群体。文中提出了一些方法学问题，包括多雄性群体的分类，并根据姆贝利的研究结果讨论了其他种群的人口统计学特征。
