Similarities Between Western Lowland Gorilla And Black-Handed Spider Monkeys

With over 8.7 million different types of species on earth, it is difficult to see how a singular unicellular organism evolved and adapted to form the human and the rest of these species. With a large amount of the human evolutionary record discovered, it is clear that humans are apart of the order primates and share their closest relatives in this group. Other primates include gorillas, monkeys, lemurs and around 300 more species. Due to the fact that this order is so large, there are many similarities between the different species. Although there are similarities between the species, like the Western Lowland gorilla and the Black-handed Spider monkey, the majority of the comparisons are differences. Through observation of the Western Lowland

As shown in many animals, as well as the spider monkey, there is a form of hierarchy present. In the Western Lowland gorilla there is an alpha male in each group which can be challenged for dominance. This hierarchy affects how the gorillas interact with one another. Any of the gorillas that are apart of the troop would feel intimidated towards the alpha male and would not treat him the same way they treated others. For example, throughout the observations at the zoo, the alpha male was asleep and the rest of the troop would not go around him to bother him but, did not care to walk by or bother the other gorillas who were asleep. It was as if they are showing a form of respect towards the silverback. Another form of dominance that was shown with the gorillas was the action of chest beating. Most of the elder gorillas would beat their chest whenever they were around the younger gorillas to show that they are of a higher rank. However, this sign of dominance and their loud shouts that were shown during the observations contradict to the fact that gorillas are peaceful animals who only show signs of vicious behaviour when the young or other members of the troop are threatened. As demonstrated at the Toronto Zoo, there were not many facial expressions that were conveyed with the gorillas, most of the time these

Like the Western Lowland gorillas, the Black-handed Spider monkey is a fairly calm species, who will not show any forms of vicious behaviour unless it is intimidated or think that there is a threat. Unlike gorillas who are apart of small troops at all times, the monkeys tend to associate with large groups and travel to find fruit and other resources in smaller subgroups around the larger groups area; this is also known as the fission-fusion social system. A system of hierarchy has not been studied thoroughly in this species, but it has been discovered that a female of a smaller subgroup can be the dominant leader, just as the silverback is the alpha male in the gorillas. However, this form of hierarchy is not as important in the monkeys and it is in the gorillas. Contradictory to the gorillas who are more physical when playing with each other, the spider monkeys demonstrated a slightly gentler form of play. This form of play mainly consisted of swinging from tree to tree and “hugging” one another. During the observations of the monkeys, a meager amount of expression was shown. The monkeys had a relatively neutral face throughout the day and did not show any forms of vocalization. However, in the wild these monkeys use forms of vocalization, such as wailing, to communicate with other members of their fusion group as well with other surrounding subgroups. It was