"Sciences en bulles" Comic Book: Watch Out for the Gorilla's Memory
This excerpt from the comic book “Sciences en bulles” is published as part of the Fête de la Science (October 2–12, 2020, in mainland France, and November 6–16 in overseas territories and internationally), of which The Conversation France is a partner. The theme of this year’s event is “Planet Nature?” Find all the discussions and events in your region on the Fetedelascience.fr website.
Benjamin Robira, University of Montpellier
The image of a lush jungle rich in resources year-round is a cliché. The jungles of West Africa and the Congo Basin, where western lowland gorillas live, actually exhibit marked seasonal variation, with periods of fruit abundance alternating with periods of scarcity.
Despite this wide variation, gorillas maintain an energy balance. This is partly due to the diversity of foods in their diet: leaves, flowers, fruits, mushrooms, and even insects.
But there is also speculation about its ability to accurately locate some of these foods—such as fruits—in time and space. Indeed, it is generally believed that, over the course of evolution, there have been selective pressures on individuals of species living in complex environments, where resources may be scarce and fluctuating. These pressures have favored the development of cognition, enabling better prediction of what type of food can be found where and when. This would partly explain the cognitive differences observed in the animal world.
A computational approach—that is, one in which the behavior of hypothetical individuals is simulated by a computer—confirms the idea that there is an advantage to having spatial and temporal awareness.
In a variable yet predictable environment such as that in which gorillas live, this ability to locate food in space and time substantially increases their success in obtaining food. It also reduces the cost of foraging, particularly the distance traveled.
Wild groups are named after the alpha male—also known as the “silverback” due to the depigmentation of his dorsal fur following puberty. Daily monitoring of these groups then makes it possible to see whether reality matches theoretical expectations.
We observe, then, that gorillas target specific locations precisely when resources are available there, and move toward them in a straight line and quickly. The next step is to understand what form this spatio-temporal knowledge takes: do gorillas have a mind map of resources ? And do they have a specific timeline in mind for when each one will be available?
Benjamin Robira, Ph.D. candidate, University of Montpellier
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