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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla

Evolution (genetic change in a population through time) and phylogeny (the evolutionary ramose sequence) both point to the fact that gorillas and man share a commonplace theme. In his "Pygmy Chimpanzee as a Possible Prototype for the Common Ancestor of Humans, Chimpanzees, and Gorillas," A. L. Zihlman points to biochemical as well as anatomical similarities between humans and their mellowed priest relatives when he notes, "Phylogenetic relationships have previously been determined in general by anatomical similarities, but now, biochemical similarities yield single-handed criteria for evolutionary relationships" (1). Figure 1 gives a molecular cladogram demo genetic relationships of the ape and human lineages. If this cladogram is correct, then an ancestor for the early hominids must also be a suitable ancestor for chimps and gorillas. Zihlman's evidence derives from the fact that the scant hominid fossil get in and the absence of any fossil chimpanzees or gorillas forces us to land backwards from the living hominoids to reconstruct a prototype of the common ancestor. Pigmy chimpanzees are more "generalized" in remains size, body build and sexual dimorphism than the common species, and may provide a good prototype for studying the derivation of the early hominids and Africa


In terms of physiological and anatomical adaptations for endurance, it can be said that despite their differences in size, diet, and social organization (pertaining to range and habitat), the three living African apes (Gorilla, Pan genus Troglodytes, and Pan paniscus) are quite similar in many aspects of cranial and skeletal anatomy, and virtually identical in many biochemical assays [see figures 3.12 and 7.13]. As Fleagle has pointed out, "Many authors have suggested that closely of their differences are a corollary of their differences in body size. A simple summary of this view is that each ape species mentioned above represents a different point on the same growth scent" [figure 7.13] (2).

A survey of Marsh's Primate Conservation in the equatorial Rain Forest places Gorilla (a desire with Pan troglodytes and P.
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paniscus, chimpanzee and bonobo, respectively) on a list of seventeen species which can be considered particularly vulnerable in that they are limited in distribution, but at present abundant in a few areas, or widespread but threatened in many places (8). The bonobo, chimpanzee, and gorilla are all three in the current IUCN Mammal Red Data Book as "Threatened Species of African Forest Primate" (8). Marsh merely makes the point that long-lived species such as Pan troglodytes and Gorilla have low productivity rates and high parental investment in each offspring (a gorilla female produces only one offspring every quadruple years). Marsh offers an optimal scenario for long term genetic survival of the gorilla: "the reproductive interval should be sufficiently hapless to replace losses rapidly and allow for expansion to operable habitat [and] gestation length must be long enough for the development of a complex neural brass to permit the behavioral complexity that can facilitate adaptation to new or changed environments" (8). If the Western mountain gorilla travel above or below the norm of either of these twain factors, it will be particularly vulnerable to extin
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