Your body will reveal everything about you. Unless you have special training form secret services or an exceptional acting talent supported by years of practice, you can be almost sure that your face and body will reveal what you would like to remain secret.
The Revealed project has repeatedly showed that humans and gorillas are close relatives. Our behaviour is similar in many respects and we. We would surely find many similarities in subconscious body language.
This topic occurred to me after Monday's events in the pavilion. As usual, the troop was served a snack in the form of fresh branches scattered on the floor and Richard defended them fiercely. He scared away the others and they all respected him - all but Kamba, that is. She wanted to have a bite as well and was not willing to accept leftovers after the boss. She headed straight for a nice bit, ignoring Richard's attacks. The male got angry and started to be rough. He started at her and hit her with his hand so hard that she fell on the ground. It must have hurt because she stroke her injured arm. However, she shook it off and showed Richard again that she was not afraid of him. She opened her mouth wide, showed canines and roared. At that moment, brave Moja came to support her. The conflict took a while and Richard was apparently looking for a way to back down. Threatening Kamba scared him, and when she was joined by Kijivu with Tatu on her back, Richard found himself completely overwhelmed. Moja jumped on Kamba's back, the females puckered their lips in disdain and stared at Richard, who withdrew with his mouth stiff.
What can gorillas express with their facial expression and body posture? Well, certainly more than we think. Research by scientists from University of Sussex showed that gorillas and humans alike use centres in the left hemisphere to control facial expression. Gorillas have developed a complex non-verbal communication system. In the past, humanity stood at a similar stage of development. We share 23 million years of common evolutionary path with apes. It has been only some 6 million years that we are going our own way. Eye contact, facial expression, gestures, and touches remain important communication tools; we manifest social cohesion for instance by mutual grooming, stroking, or hugging. The aforementioned research studied a gorilla troop in Port Lympne Wild Animal Park, focusing on 13 years old female Fou Fou, her offspring and their relationship with the rest of the troop. A camera system tracked Fou Fou's every step, capturing her postures, gestures, ans facial expression. The aim of the research was to uncover the yet unexplored principles of the origins of human language. Results of the research help devise new teaching techniques and education programmes for people with communication problems and autistic children, for instance. It has shown that non-verbal communication can be very helpful for 2-4 years old autistic children in whom the disease has not fully developed.
What kinds of body language do gorillas use?
O Drumming on the chest has been repeatedly mentioned in our articles - you may remember our gorilla language lessons. The gorilla stands up straight on the hind legs and hammer their chest several times with their palms. Adult males accompany the threat by hollow sounds they produce in air lobes on both sides of the throat.
Communication based on physical contact has been discussed on this server as well. Stroking on the head or shoulders, or grooming of fur expresses placates, tones down previous aggression, and we have observed it also as an expression of sympathy. It is noteworthy that mutual grooming to remove parasites, dead hairs, and skin flakes, has been observed between females and a silver-backed male, females and young, or between young but never between two adult females.
We have also previously mentioned a friendly expression called playful face The animal has open mouth but does not show teeth, gums remain hidden.
However, non-verbal communication in gorillas is more extensive than that. Other common postures, gestures, and facial expressions include:
Walking on straight arms The animal walks stiffly on straight hands with bristled fur so as to look as mighty as possible. The animal makes short steps and overlooks the opponent, turning its side to him and glimpsing at him now and then. This is an expression of dominance, most often observed in silver-backed males, especially lone ones who need to steal a partner from a competing troop.
Straight gaze. The gorilla gazes straight at the opponent, frowning, with head slightly bent, mouth open a little and lips puckered. This position, as we saw Kamba taking it, means aggression and anger.
Showing teeth This is a similar expression as the previous one but gums and teeth are shown. This is a threat for potential predators, usually expressed by a male adult, and often accompanies by mocking, shouting, or roaring.
Puckered lips Lips are puckered, mouth slightly open or stiff, eyebrows are raised. This expression can be seen most often in young when mother leaves them alone for a while or when they do not get what they want. This is an expression of light sadness and anxiety.
Open mouth Mouth is wide open, angles pulled back, eyebrows raised and head bent slightly backward, eyes wandering. This is the way gorillas express fear.
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