Functions and social consequences of infant-adult male interaction in a captive group of lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) (1989)

Mitchell, R. W.

Abstract

Males expressed interest in and care giving toward the infant and used her as an object in excited display, and one male used her to tease her mother. The infant expressed interest in care seeking toward one male. Males interacted very frequently with the infant when in a cage with few objects but only once when in a cage with many objects, which suggests that males, by interacting with the infant, were seeking to alleviate boredom. Providing objects to stimulate the males therefore would probably decrease the frequency of harmful infant-adult male interactions.