How do scientists study the gorillas?
Ever since Dian Fossey started studying the mountain gorillas in the late 1960s, scientists from the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and from colleges and universities around the world have made the mountain gorilla a focus of their research. They have studied everything from how gorilla groups are formed to how males and females choose mates, to how infants are raised and how the gorillas communicate. In addition to the ongoing research about mountain gorilla life, scientists are now using some of the most up-to-date scientific methods to learn even more. For example, a study is currently underway using DNA samples taken from the gorillas’ droppings, in order to learn the exact paternity for each new infant born in a gorilla group. Scientists are also attempting to classify all of the plants in the forests, upon which the gorillas and other species rely for food. Using a new process called hyperspectral remote sensing, they can collect information using aerial photographs, and
