A spy robot just captured, for the first time on camera, a group of gorillas singing and humming as they eat their dinner. Nature has infinite ways to surprise us; the thing is, we rarely get close enough to witness it. However, researchers do not give up and often manage to come up with ingenious techniques to capture these genuine moments without disturbing the species. One of these inventions is a spy robot shaped like a gorilla that allows cameras to capture gorillas in their wildest state.
Thanks to the gorilla robot prototype, a group of wild mountain gorillas was captured singing during dinner. This behavior had already been confirmed in 2016 when audio recorded by field researchers revealed that gorillas sing to themselves while eating.
The authors of the 2016 research found that older gorillas sang and hummed at mealtime more than younger gorillas. They also noted that males sang more frequently than females. To the experts’ surprise, it was also documented that gorillas are more likely to sing while eating plants and seeds, rather than insects.
However, this behavior had only been described anecdotally in the past. Until now, that a gorilla robot infiltrated a herd of mountain gorillas. The spy animatronic was able to capture for the first time on video the gorilla specimens singing very serenely while chewing leaves and stems.
Animatronic spy robot
Creating a realistic animatronic robot that could infiltrate the wild gorilla herd is of utmost importance to capture the gorillas in their most genuine state. Undisturbed, the gorillas continue with their daily routines. This opens the possibility for researchers to study authentic behaviors of animal species in their truest state.
Achieving this has its implications, for instance, it was necessary to design a device that looked like a real gorilla so they would accept it. To do this, as many details as possible must be included in the face of the robot gorilla. At the same time, it is necessary to provide it with easy expressions capable of fooling the mountain gorillas.
The Spy in the Wild 2 team did it. They created a robot with such a detailed face that when they infiltrated it into the herd, the herd accepted it. Thus they were able to obtain video images of gorillas singing to themselves as they enjoyed their dinner.
The video, which is part of the first episode of the Spy in the Wilds 2 series, makes it clear that gorillas have complex socialization structures. In addition to behaviors that, until a few years ago, were thought to belong only to humans.
Text and images courtesy of Ecoosfera
Photos: ©John Downer Productions.
Translated by María Isabel Carrasco Cara Chards
