The positive results with the gorillas were particularly interesting because, unlike other apes, they fail tests of mirror-self-recognition.
With respect to faecal clumps that contained whole seeds, chimpanzees and gorillas passed 1.7 species of seed per defecation on average.
The proportion of seeds handled by monkeys that were dropped was considerably larger than it was for gorillas.
Our results demonstrate that gorillas consume diets that differ by plant species and part, but contain similar concentrations of nutrients.
Despite their low densities, gorillas accounted for nearly a third of the primate biomass.
Furthermore, the large size of chimpanzees and gorillas may amplify their importance as seed dispersers.
But, whereas monkeys disperse seeds singly or in small clumps, chimpanzees and gorillas deposit large numbers of seeds in a single faecal clump.
Their (still) qualitative conclusions established that gorilla, chimpanzee, and human hemoglobin patterns were almost identical in appearance.
