Obviously, gorillas living in captivity do not face the same everyday threats as those in the wild, such as predators, attacks by competing males attempting to steal a female, or clashes with other troops over territory.
We might be surprised if we saw Richard deal with such conflict situations. We know him as a loving and caring father who sometimes plays with the young ones and when in good mood, lets them climb and jump all over him. The only situation when he is rude to the others is feeding. However, life in the protected pavilion is not always harmonious: conflicts of various intensity between members of the troop are quite common, which might be caused by the confined space - the so-called cabin fever. The mostly minor fights often end with light injuries we mentioned in our earlier reports.
Free life in the wild, however, brings about situations we would hardly associate with non-aggressive, calm gorillas. The biggest number of gorillas in the wild are killed by humans. This, probably does not come as a surprise. A shocking finding is that at least 31 % of all highland gorillas in Rwanda that die before reaching three years of age are killed by their own kind. This usually happens when a mother switches troops or when the alpha male in a troop dies and is replaced by a new leader. In general, it is silver-backs who kill other males' offspring, while black-backs do it rarely, and females have never been seen to kill the young. Infanticide, i.e. killing of the young, has been observed in other primates, too, e.g. in chimpanzees, bonobos, and hanumans. Lactation puts off renewal of the reproduction cycle in females, which is why babies are particularly endangered in the first year, when they will potentially be dependent on breastfeeding for another two or three years. However, killing of older animals, almost three years of age, has been reported. A significant subconscious motivation for such behaviour in males is not only to enable mating with the mother as soon as possible but also to eliminate another male's offspring and propagate own genes.
Adult gorillas can attack and cause serious injuries to each other. Most often, fighting occurs upon an encounter of two competing troops. Approximately 62 % of all recorded injuries ion highland gorillas in the Virunga National Park came as the result of confrontations between troops. Inflicted wounds usually heal quickly and are rarely fatal. The only exception are injuries from fights between silver-backed males. When showing teeth and threatening behaviour is not enough to scare away an opponent, fight erupts with long, massive canines as the main weapon. The teeth are so strong that they can puncture the opponent's skull.
Agonistic behaviour helps maintain an optimum hierarchy in the troop with respect to the given social and age structure and environmental conditions. This includes all forms of behaviour whose purpose is to uncompromisingly impose the will of an individual, defend the territory, maintain relationships in the troop, fend off another individual or troop, express superiority over another individual or group, defend food sources, females and the young, repel an attack, etc. In no case does this represent a crude or pathological form of social behaviour, as it was sometimes interpreted in the past. It is a necessity that determines the actual position of each member of the troop and makes it possible to survive.
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