Title
Plant choice in the construction of night nests by mountain gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
Author(s)
Rothman J.M., Pell A.N., Dierenfeld E.S., Mccann C.M.
Published
2006
Publisher
American Journal of Primatology
Published Version DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20230
Abstract
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. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Keywords
canopy; environment; forest; habitat; nest; nesting behavior; plant; animal; article; classification; gorilla; nesting; physiology; plant; Uganda; Animals; Gorilla gorilla; Nesting Behavior; Plants; Uganda; Africa; Bwindi Impenetrable National Park; East Africa; Southern Province [Uganda]; Sub-Saharan Africa; Uganda; Gorilla beringei; Ipomoea; Mimulopsis; Pteridium; Pteridium aquilinum

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