No description available.

No description available.

As a practical diploma work I modeled and cast a statue fragments of a life-size gorillas. It is another statue with the theme of humanization, which I dealt with in my previous tvorbě.Tentokrát but not a physical intervention (human eyes, skin color), but the position in which the classical sculpture displayed in the human body.

The concept of quantifying animal welfare has received much discussion, in various industries such as agriculture, laboratory, and zoological facilities. Behavioral, physical, and physiological indicators of welfare have previously been used to assess animal welfare; each having advantages and disadvantages, ranging from the practicality of data collection, to the validity of the data and how it is interpreted. Concurrent assessment of multiple measures is a more robust way to examine animal welfare, which utilizes the advantages of each measure, and provides additional information on which to base conclusions and animal care management decisions. This study used measures of behavior and urinary cortisol to examine the potential stress response of a captive gorilla group to short-term space restriction associated with temporary confinement to indoor housing facilities. The study duration was three months; one month of baseline data collection, one month of indoor restriction, and one month of monitoring post-restriction. All-occurrences of selected behaviors were collected, with an emphasis on social and stress-related behaviors, and urine samples were collected daily from a sub-set of the group. A urinary cortisol metabolite enzyme immunoassay was validated and used to monitor adrenal activity in gorillas. Measured cortisol increases in response to a known stressor (medical illness) provided a physical validation of the cortisol EIA and established biological relevance of the assay system. No significant differences in social behaviors (aggression, affiliation) or stereotypic behaviors were observed. Significant (p<0.05) increases in cortisol concentration were measured, suggesting that the gorillas were responding to a stressor during the study period. The observed cortisol increase was not likely to have been caused exclusively by the temporary indoor confinement. Potential additional causes of increased adrenal activity during the study included: presence of the observer and novelty of re-landscaped outdoor enclosure. While the increases in cortisol concentration demonstrate an observed stress response, the magnitude of this stressor, and thus the degree of the stress response, was minor. The stress experienced was not significant enough to alter the normal biological function of the gorillas, and thus, can be considered negligible. The gorillas' ability to effectively deal with this expected stressor may have been enhanced by the additional enrichment provided to the gorillas during their indoor confinement. Gorillas were provided with additional browse, more enrichment items, additional training sessions, and increased keeper interaction while they remained indoors. These animal care and management techniques may have buffered the predicted negative impact on animal welfare due to increases in stress by providing stimulating novelty in the gorillas' indoor environment.

The Mountain Gorillas of Central Africa are one of the most highly endangered species in the world, with only 740 individuals surviving. One of the greatest threats to this species is disease. Health of wildlife is continually garnering more attention in the public arena due to recent outbreaks of diseases such as West Nile and High Pathogenic Avian Influenza. However, no system currently exists to facilitate the management and analysis of wildlife health data. The research conducted herein was the development and testing of a health information monitoring system for the mountain gorillas entitled Internet-supported Management Program to Assist Conservation Technologies or IMPACT?. The system functions around a species database of known or unknown individuals and provides individual-based and population-based epidemiological analysis. The system also uses spatial locations of individuals or samples to link multiple species together based on spatial proximity for inter-species comparisons. A syndromic surveillance system or clinical decision tree was developed to collect standardized data to better understand the ecology of diseases within the gorilla population. The system is hierarchical in nature, using trackers and guides to conduct daily observations while specially trained veterinarians are used to confirm and assess any abnormalities detected. Assessment of the decision tree indicated that trackers and guides did not observe gorilla groups or individuals within groups similarly. Data suggests that, to be consistent, trackers and guides need to conduct observations even on the day that veterinarians collect data. Validity and reliability remain to be tested in the observation instrument. Assessment of pathogen loads and distributions within species surrounding the gorillas indicates that humans have the greatest pathogen loads with 13 species, followed by cattle and chimpanzees (11), baboon (10), gorillas (9), and rodents (3). Spatial aggregation occurred in Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Trichuris; however, there is reason to question the test results of the former 2 species. These data suggest that researchers need to examine the impact of local human and domestic animal populations on gorillas and other wildlife.

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The establishment of bachelor gorilla groups in captivity, along with the continued success of the captive breeding programme provides an opportunity for research on social interactions in two differing circumstances. This thesis focuses on male – male social interactions. Emphasis is placed on dominance and affiliative behaviours and gives indications of the level of behavioural flexibility within both breeder and bachelor gorilla groups. Evaluation of behavioural diversity, to validate the use of multi-institutional research, confirms that behavioural phenomena, such as the effect of age class, are not masked by the potential confound of differing husbandry practices and enclosure design between institutions. It was found that males in bachelor groups express significantly lower frequencies of both dominance and aggressive behaviours than males in breeder groups. A Relationship Quality Index (RQI, based on the ration of dominance to affiliative behaviours) was developed and again bachelor males exhibited a significantly lower RQI, indicating that bachelor males express a greater frequency of dominance behaviours than affiliative behaviours. This may have a direct impact on the social development of young males, and potentially their social competence in later life, a significant finding for the management of gorillas in captivity. In addition, it can be suggested that affiliative behaviours, which may work to repair damage to social bonds, may not be performed to the same extent in bachelor groups, suggesting that the ‘value’ of social bonds within a bachelor group may be reduced.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Larry F. Hodges. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115).

Investigating maternal investment (Ml) and mother-offspring relationships during the period of infant dependency is critically important to furthering the understanding of female reproductive strategies in primates. Infant primates are completely dependent upon their mothers. The way in which a mother allocates her resources therefore is crucial for infant survival, but is balanced Against her need to invest in subsequent offspring. One approach to examining how mothers might invest in their offspring stems from the Trivers &amp; Willard hypothesis (TWH, 1973), which predicts that mothers in good condition should bias their investment towards sons and whereas mothers in poorer condition should bias investment toward daughters. Long-term demographic records on birth sex ratio and inter-birth interval suggest that female mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) do not bias investment prenatally, but they may adjust postnatal Ml according to the TWH. This study investigated Ml and mother-offspring relationships in wild mountain gorillas, using behavioural correlates of Ml, including suckling, weaned age, physical contact, &quot;transport, and grooming to redress the lack of understanding about Ml in this species. The appropriateness of TWH was investigated, integrating different indicators of maternal condition. Important determinants of Ml and mother-offspring relationships were considered, such as offspring age, parity, presence of siblings and maternal relatives, group size and lastly, personality, which has been largely neglected in nonhuman primates. The extent, to which the offspring influenced Ml patterns, was examined using the parent-offspring conflict theory (Trivers, 1972) as a theoretical framework. During 2006-2007, 38 mother-offspring dyads were observed in the Virunga massif, resulting in 1210 hours of direct behavioural observation. Additional field data from the previous four decades were integrated into the dataset for the analysis of suckling and weaned age. Gorilla personality was assessed through the Hominoid Personality Questionnaire. Findings relating to suckling frequency, weaned age, and maternal feeding activities were consistent with the TWH: sons suckled more often than daughters when they had mothers in good condition, whereas the reverse sex-pattern occurred in offspring with mothers in poorer condition. In addition, daughters were weaned at an earlier age than sons when mothers were in better condition, although this sex-difference reduced in older mothers that were categorised as being in good condition. Maternal feeding time and feeding efficiency revealed that mothers in poorer condition spent more time ingesting food when they had daughters, whereas mothers in better .condition spent more time ingesting food when they had sons. Furthermore, group size affected lactation duration with offspring in small groups being weaned earlier than offspring in large groups. Behavioural conflicts over Ml showed that the mother and offspring influenced Ml patterns during the period of dependency. Finally, six personality dimensions were identified, of which five revealed effects maternal behaviour, such as maternal retrieval, responsiveness and rejection, although their relative importance varied between those behaviours. In general, mother and offspring personality effects were complex due to their interactions with the developmental stage of offspring. In conclusion, my thesis research has made several novel contributions to furthering the understanding of female reproductive strategies in the highly endangered mountain gorilla. I presented the first evidence using behavioural data that females bias their postnatal investment towards the sex with the greatest fitness return as predicted by the TWH. My findings are discussed in the light of alternative Ml strategies, such as the local resource competition and enhancement model. My research has highlighted the importance of integrating anthropometric and physiological measures and demographic long-term data into future Ml studies to assess direct costs and benefits of Ml. The examination of mother-offspring behavioural conflicts showed that offspring have a strong impact on the level of Ml they receive. I have also examined the personality of a wild mountain gorilla population for the first time. My findings demonstrate that personality-parenting links are evident in several respects and I have demonstrated the great potential of personality as a determinant of maternal behaviour and mother-offspring relationships.

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