Mountain gorillas maintain strong affiliative biases for maternal siblings despite high male reproductive skew and extensive exposure to paternal kin

  1. Nicholas M Grebe  Is a corresponding author
  2. Jean Paul Hirwa
  3. Tara S Stoinski
  4. Linda Vigilant
  5. Stacy Rosenbaum
  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, United States
  2. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, United States
  3. Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany
8 figures, 8 tables and 1 additional file

Figures

Figure 1 with 2 supplements
Box and dot plots comparing relatedness categories (A, B) and sex categories (C, D) for play rates (left) and grooming rates (right).
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Box and dot plots for play within gorilla dyads that have ‘early life familiarity’ only (n=6724), separated by relatedness and sex category.
Figure 1—figure supplement 2
Box and dot plots for grooming within gorilla dyads that have ‘early life familiarity’ only (n=6724), separated by relatedness and sex category.
Estimated rates of play (A) and grooming (B) across a range of age differences, separated by relatedness category.

Bars represent 95% CI for rates of behavior at a given age difference.

Estimated rates of play (A) and grooming (B) across a range of age differences, separated by sex category.

Bars represent 95% CI for rates of behavior at a given age difference.

Box and dot plots (A) and estimated trends across a range of age differences (B) for the time gorilla dyads spent in close proximity, separated by relatedness category.

Bars in (B) represent 95% CI for rates of proximity at a given age difference.

Figure 5 with 1 supplement
Box and dot plots (A) and estimated trends across a range of age differences (B) for aggression within gorilla dyads, separated by relatedness and sex category.

Bars in (B) represent 95% CI for rates of aggression at a given age difference.

Figure 5—figure supplement 1
Box and dot plots for aggression within gorilla dyads that have ‘early life familiarity’ only (n=6724), separated by relatedness and sex category.
Appendix 3—figure 1
Estimated trends of (A) play, (B) grooming, (C) close proximity, and (D) aggression across average age of gorilla dyads.

Trends adjusted for all parameters listed in Appendix 3—table 1. Bars represent 95% CI for rates of behavior at a given age .

Appendix 4—figure 1
Box and dot plots showing estimated non-contact aggression within gorilla dyads, separated by relatedness and sex category.
Appendix 4—figure 2
Box and dot plots showing estimated contact aggression within gorilla dyads, separated by relatedness, and sex category.

Tables

Appendix 1—table 1
Omnibus statistics for target parameters.

Effects p<0.05 bolded.

Effect (early life familiarity only)
RelatednessSex categoryAge differencesRel×sex categoryRel×age diffSex ×age diff
Playχ2(3)=1.42,
p=0.700
χ2(2)=9.51,
p=0.008
χ2(1)=9.99,
p=0.002
χ2(6)=4.91,
p=0.555
χ2(3)=0.55,
p=0.908
χ2(2)=5.30,
p=0.070
Groomingχ2(3)=22.56,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=19.40,
p<0.001
χ2(1)=1.04,
p=0.308
χ2(6)=7.93,
p=0.243
χ2(3)=2.23,
p=0.526
χ2(2)=14.53,
p<0.001
Proximityχ2(3)=31.01,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=2.70,
p=0.259
χ2(1)=1.09,
p=0.296
χ2(6)=7.51,
p=0.276
χ2(3)=45.36,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=0.91,
p=0.635
Aggressionχ2(3)=2.42,
p=0.489
χ2(2)=1.27,
p=0.531
χ2(1)=8.09,
p=0.004
χ2(6)=4.92,
p=0.553
χ2(3)=2.99,
p=0.393
χ2(2)=8.69,
p=0.013
Appendix 1—table 2
Estimated marginal means and standard errors across relatedness and sex categories.
RelatednessSex Category
Full siblingsMaternal halfPaternal halfNon-siblingsFemale-femaleMale-maleMixed-sex
Play2.56 (0.48)1.74 (0.28)1.10 (0.13)1.29 (0.18)1.15 (0.19)2.38 (0.35)1.46 (0.18)
Grooming2.33 (0.53)1.40 (0.27)0.24 (0.03)0.28 (0.03)1.61 (0.25)0.34 (0.07)0.59 (0.08)
Proximity42.9 (4.3)41.6 (3.6)15.3 (1.0)17.0 (1.6)29.0 (2.4)25.7 (2.3)23.8 (1.6)
Aggression0.42 (0.07)0.46 (0.18)0.54 (0.04)0.57 (0.04)0.40 (0.05)0.63 (0.07)0.48 (0.04)
Appendix 2—table 1
Omnibus statistics for target parameters.

Effects p<0.05 bolded.

Effect (strict relatedness categories)
RelatednessSex categoryAge differencesRel×sex categoryRel×age diffSex ×age diff
Playχ2(3)=11.18,
p=0.011
χ2(2)=14.16,
p<0.001
χ2(1)=9.44,
p=0.002
χ2(6)=12.36,
p=0.054
χ2(3)=1.97,
p=0.578
χ2(2)=16.75,
p<0.001
Groomingχ2(3)=19.01,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=20.18,
<0.001
χ2(1)=1.36,
p=0.243
χ2(6)=8.67, p=0.193χ2(3)=7.09,
p=0.069
χ2(2)=14.35,
p<0.001
Proximityχ2(3)=30.88,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=2.84,
p=0.241
χ2(1)=1.37,
p=0.242
χ2(6)=11.37,
p=0.078
χ2(3)=74.81,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=0.38,
p=0.826
Aggressionχ2(3)=1.68,
p=0.642
χ2(2)=1.00,
p=0.607
χ2(1)=3.18,
p=0.075
χ2(6)=14.05,
p=0.029
χ2(3)=0.91,
p=0.822
χ2(2)=11.54,
p=0.003
Appendix 2—table 2
Estimated marginal means and standard errors across relatedness and sex categories.
RelatednessSex category
Full siblingsMaternal halfPaternal halfNon-siblingsFemale-femaleMale-maleMixed-sex
Play2.83 (0.56)1.85 (0.40)1.28 (0.16)1.04 (0.11)1.16 (0.21)2.66 (0.44)1.39 (0.20)
Grooming2.62 (0.58)1.63 (0.45)0.33 (0.04)0.29 (0.04)1.68 (0.27)0.43 (0.09)0.73 (0.11)
Proximity45.6 (4.4)43.2 (4.7)16.1 (1.0)18.8 (1.0)31.5 (2.6)25.8 (2.3)26.4 (1.9)
Aggression0.46 (0.08)0.65 (0.14)0.58 (0.04)0.75 (0.04)0.54 (0.07)0.71 (0.09)0.58 (0.06)
Appendix 3—table 1
Omnibus statistics for target parameters.

Effects p<0.05 bolded.

Effect (average age adjusted)
RelatednessSex categoryAge differencesAverage ageRel.×sex categoryRel.×age diff.Sex ×age diff.
Playχ2(3)=8.38,
p=0.038
χ2(2)=22.96,
p<0.001
χ2(1)=7.89,
p=0.004
χ2(1)=636.9,
p<0.001
χ2(6)=7.64,
p=0.266
χ2(3)=5.29,
p=0.151
χ2(2)=19.94,
p<0.001
Groomingχ2(3)=33.31,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=19.45,
p<0.001
χ2(1)=1.18,
p=0.277
χ2(1)=3.36,
p=0.067
χ2(6)=14.11,
p=0.028
χ2(3)=8.55,
p=0.036
χ2(2)=11.85,
p=0.003
Proximityχ2(3)=51.08,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=3.33,
p=0.189
χ2(1)=1.84,
p=0.174
χ2(1)=44.19
p<0.001
χ2(6)=11.72,
p=0.069
χ2(3)=89.17,
p<0.001
χ2(2)=0.60,
p=0.741
Aggressionχ2(3)=5.84,
p=0.120
χ2(2)=0.78,
p=0.675
χ2(1)=4.63,
p=0.031
χ2(1)=114.1,
p<0.001
χ2(6)=10.39,
p=0.109
χ2(3)=0.80,
p=0.849
χ2(2)=11.19,
p=0.004
Appendix 3—table 2
Estimated marginal means and standard errors across relatedness and sex categories, adjusting for average age.
RelatednessSex category
Full siblingsMaternal halfPaternal halfNon-siblingsFemale-femaleMale-maleMixed-sex
Play2.03 (0.37)1.45 (0.22)0.90 (0.09)0.87 (0.06)0.77 (0.10)2.29 (0.27)1.06 (0.11)
Grooming2.45 (0.54)1.50 (0.26)0.28 (0.04)0.32 (0.04)1.68 (0.24)0.41 (0.08)0.64 (0.09)
Proximity44.6 (4.3)42.2 (3.5)15.8 (1.0)18.7 (1.0)30.8 (2.4)26.2 (2.2)25.3 (1.7)
Aggression0.46 (0.07)0.43 (0.08)0.60 (0.04)0.76 (0.04)0.47 (0.06)0.65 (0.07)0.54 (0.05)
Appendix 4—table 1
Omnibus statistics for target parameters.

Effects p<0.05 bolded.

Effect (separate aggression categories)
RelatednessSex categoryAge differencesRel.×sex categoryRel.×age diff.Sex ×age diff.
Contact
aggression
χ2(3)=5.90,
p=0.117
χ2(2)=2.28,
p=0.320
χ2(1)=0.90,
p=0.344
χ2(6)=12.95,
p=0.044
χ2(3)=0.94,
p=0.816
χ2(2)=4.51,
p=0.105
Non-contact
aggression
χ2(3)=3.00,
p=0.390
χ2(2)=5.00,
p=0.082
χ2(1)=1.64,
p=0.201
χ2(6)=12.41,
p=0.053
χ2(3)=0.84,
p=0.840
χ2(2)=3.58,
p=0.167
Appendix 4—table 2
Estimated marginal means and standard errors across relatedness and sex categories.
RelatednessSex Category
Full siblingsMaternal halfPaternal halfNon-siblingsFemale - femaleMale - maleMixed -
sex
Contact
aggression
0.24 (0.04)0.20 (0.05)0.29 (0.02)0.34 (0.02)0.23 (0.03)0.29 (0.04)0.29 (0.03)
Non-contact
aggression
0.11 (0.03)0.19 (0.05)0.18 (0.02)0.23 (0.02)0.20 (0.03)0.18 (0.03)0.13 (0.02)

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  1. Nicholas M Grebe
  2. Jean Paul Hirwa
  3. Tara S Stoinski
  4. Linda Vigilant
  5. Stacy Rosenbaum
(2022)
Mountain gorillas maintain strong affiliative biases for maternal siblings despite high male reproductive skew and extensive exposure to paternal kin
eLife 11:e80820.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80820