If a gorilla decided to have sex with you, and raped you? Would you survive? It can, after all, weigh up to 600 pounds. What would happen? What do you think?
As in many mammalian species, it is the female gorilla who initiates sexual behavior and it is synchronized with her estrus cycle. She only has the urge for intercourse when she is fertile. There is only one dominant male in each family group ("pack") and only he copulates with the females. However, this is not enforced by dueling with other males, as happens in many ungulate herds. The male establishes a bond with each female so that she prefers his company. As the young males mature in a pack with a still-virile dominant male, they drift away and live solitarily until they can form their own pack. As the young females mature, they generally drift away as well, although (as far as I can tell from what I've read) a few may bond with the dominant male, who is their father or grandfather. The young males and females who have left their family groups meet in their wanderings and form new polygamous groups. As you can guess, inbreeding is a major issue in gorillas. Biologists say that if you examine the skulls from two gorilla populations from distant locations, their differences are so greatly accentuated by inbreeding that your first guess would be that they are not of the same species. So it is not the women of SciForums who need to be concerned with the advances of a gorilla since male gorillas do not initiate courtship. I always wondered about Diane Fossey since she accomplished her work by establishing herself as a female of the pack, and in fact a rather dominant one since in at least one case she accidentally smacked a female on the butt who then yielded her roost to her. If a male researcher were to do the same thing, what would happen? Our pheromones are different so I doubt that he would smell like a male gorilla. But if he managed to mimic the behavior and were actually recognized as a male gorilla he would not be allowed to join an existing pack. They expel males, they do not assimilate them. He would have to wander through the forest acting like a really hot male gorilla and attract the attention of a female to start his own pack. If he were successful she would initiate sex and he would be in some serious trouble, especially if he could not perform. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! However since he would be the size of a young juvenile he would more likely arouse a maternal instinct than a mating instinct. There are very few mammal species in which the females are even capable of copulating when they are not at the fertile point of their estrus cycle. In these species intercourse is used as an expression of affection and companionship. To my knowledge these are all pack-social species, not solitary or herd-social, and intercourse may also serve as a ritual for strengthening the bonds among the pack members. The only two animals that I can actually identify as having this biology are dolphins and humans. Rape is known among both. Although there are several species of dolphins and I have only read of it occurring in a single population of a single species. Off the coast of Australia, there's something about that Foster's beer in the runoff. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Not all pack-social species have the dominant-male sexual hierarchy. Female dogs, for example, will copulate with every male who can be aroused, and as a result every male protects every litter as though at least one member is his own offspring.
