They hit their chest so they don’t have to hit your butt.
The image of King Kong beating his chest may seem like the ultimate threat. However, German scientists have discovered that gorillas bump their sternum to avoid a fight rather than arouse it.
In particular, the primate advertises the size of the primate, competence and other practical information, which gives competitors an idea of what they would be doing if they were to drop, reports National Geographic.
“We have found that this is definitely a true, reliable signal – men are giving up their true size,” Edward Wright, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told the Guardian. He was co-author of the percussive study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.
Many have speculated that gorillas communicate size by beating, but ‘there was no data to support this claim’, according to Roberta Salmi, director of the University of Georgia’s Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab.
To prove their enchanting theory, Wright and his team spent 3,000 hours on endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, National Geographic reported.
They use audio equipment to track audio frequencies, number and duration of each show in six animals between November 2015 and July 2016. They then compared the variables with the size of the samples, which were measured by analyzing photographs of the animals.
The researchers found that larger gorillas have lower frequencies than their smaller counterparts, which according to the study shows an “honest signal of competitiveness” and size instead of an exaggerated threat. Think of a UFC fighter calling their stats against a drunkard sticking his chest up at the bar.
“These are large, powerful animals that can do a lot of damage.”
As larger body size correlated with a higher social rank – and therefore the ability to fight – scientists concluded that transmitting it through breaststroke could help gorillas avoid violence – a must in a species that grows up to 500 pounds .
“Even if you’re likely to win a fight, there’s still a high risk factor,” Wright explained. “These are large, powerful animals that can do a lot of damage.”
“Often it’s about the breaststroke and then they do not fight,” he said, adding that punier gorillas might be deterred by a larger silver back, whose bass beats probably beat through their larger larynx pockets. In the same way, an alpha Mighty Joe Young might hear the drum solo of a beta monkey and decide that they are too small to monkey with.
Along with the size of competitors, breast-pounding can also be used to attract mates, according to the research.
The next step is to find out how other gorillas translate the language of chest.
“It will be very interesting to see how hornbeams in their environments can influence their movements and decision making about which parts of their home range to use,” Salmi said.