Plant choice in the construction of night nests by gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda

• Published in: American journal of primatology Vol. 68; no. 4; pp. 361 - 368
• Main Authors: Rothman, Jessica M., Pell, Alice N., Dierenfeld, Ellen S., Mccann, Colleen M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.04.2006; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Animal ethology; Animals; apes; Biological and medical sciences; Biological anthropology; Evolutionary anthropology; Flora; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gorilla beringei; Gorilla gorilla - physiology; Gorillas; Mammalia; National parks; nest; nesting behavior; Nesting Behavior - physiology; plant choice; Plants - classification; Primate behaviour; Primates; Primatology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Uganda; Vertebrata; Uganda; Africa; Nesting; Gorilla beringei; nesting behavior; Construction; Animal construction; Choice; Night; plant choice; National park; apes; Reproduction; Vertebrata; Plant; Mammalia; Simioidea; Primates; Nest; Environmental protection; Field study
• ISSN: 0275-2565; 1098-2345
• DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20230

We investigated the choice of plants in nest sites and individual night nests of a group of gorillas (Gorilla beringei) in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Most of the nests were built on the ground in secondary forest or canopy gaps. The gorillas used 62 plant genera in their nests out of a possible 108 plant genera available in the immediate environment. This group of Bwindi gorillas chose nest sites nonrandomly with respect to habitat type and selected nest sites in which Pteridium spp. or Mimulopsis spp. were the dominant plants. The Bwindi gorillas selected Pteridium spp. and Ipomea spp. to construct their individual night nests in greater quantities compared to their proportional availability in the immediate environment. Am. J. Primatol. 68:361–368, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.