After watching “The Gorilla King (2004) FILM Narrated By F. Murray Abraham, Please answer the following questions: 1. The film depicts a female gorilla who continues to carry her infant for two days after it dies. Similar instances of dead infant carrying have been reported in other primates, including chimpanzees and geladas. What are some reasons you can think of that might explain this carrying of dead infants among gorillas and other primates? 2. The film mentions that females often mate with multiple males within their groups to confuse paternity. Based on what you have learned about gorilla society from the film, lecture, and readings, what circumstances might make this strategy of promiscuity adaptive for female gorillas? 3. The film presents mountain gorilla tourism in a solely positive light. What are some of tourism’s benefits for the gorillas? There are also some drawbacks to tourism for the gorillas not mentioned in the film. Can you think of what some of these drawbacks may be? 4. You learn in the film that 900,000 people died in 100 days during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, a truly horrifying statistic. Following the genocide, some wildlife conservationists expressed concern about what might have happened to Rwanda’s mountain gorilla population during the genocide. Do you think this concern for the status of the mountain gorillas in the wake of the genocide was objectionable? Why or why not?
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