Mountain Gorillas Vs. Humans: a Behavioral Study
University of Maryland University College
Humans and Apes, both primates, both highly intelligent creatures, and both with similar parenting styles. Although humans are primates many people think of animals as something entirely different. Many people use the word “animalistic” to describe someone with violent and unpredictable behavior. However, when looking at the differences between Humans and the Mountain Gorilla, there are more similarities in well-mannered behavior than anything else. Humans and Gorillas have many similarities including peaceful approaches at parenting, the actions of the “head male” of the family, and even the reproduction time lines including ovulation and gestation.
Humans are one of the main species to breed at high frequencies. With breeding comes parenting. Many mothers prefer to keep their infants with them and avoid baby sitters or day cares for the first 5 or 6 months. There are a few different types of parents when it comes to discipline, the vocal parent, the parent that removes sentimental objects, and the physical disciplinarian(Fay, 1981). The vocal parent is often known for screaming at the child to get them to stop their behavior or repeatedly telling them no. generally this isn’t the best method of parenting because the child will more than likely continue the bad behavior. The “sentimental” parents is known for giving their children gifts, but later taking these gifts away if they behave badly. In this style of parenting it is expected that the child will start to behave properly in order to earn their belongings back. However, as gentle as some parents try to be, children are still children. This is where the physical disciplinary parent comes in. Often misbehaving children will be spanked or held close to stop them...