Long-term data accumulating across great ape study sites is demonstrating more diversity than originally recognized in their life history strategies.  However, our knowledge of the physical ontogenies of known-aged great apes remains overwhelmingly derived from captive studies, with a few notable exceptions. 

This project investigates growth and life history in two ecologically distinct populations of mountain gorillas, focusing on Virunga mountain gorillas observed by DFGFI’s Karisoke Research Center in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda, and mountain gorillas observed by the Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology’s Bwindi Gorilla Project in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. It integrates new morphological data obtained using parallel laser photogrammetry with behavioral, ecological and veterinary data, to test sources of variability in dental and somatic growth and developmental trajectories within and among populations, and examine relationships between variation in morphological development, other trajectories of behavioral development, and documented life history outcomes.

Ultimately, this research will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how and why dental, somatic, reproductive, and behavioral developmental milestones covary within and among closely related great ape populations, and shed important light on how life history variation may be mediated by trade-offs affecting offspring growth.