While gorillas can obviously observe size just by getting a good look at their peers, the researchers suggest chest-beating is more reliable when trying to communicate through a dense forest habitat, reports Bryan Lawver for Inverse. This is not good for me, and so I am just going to retreat',' says co-author Edward Wright from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology to the Guardian. There is no point in me fighting you because I am likely to lose. 'The smaller one presumably says: 'Right, you are bigger. The chest-beating could be another way for the gorillas to convey their size to others and, in turn, avoid fights that could result in serious injury or death. Previous research has shown that a gorilla's larger body size is linked to reproductive success and social rank, the Guardian reports. The team also noticed that larger gorillas produced deeper-toned chest drumming. While the rate, duration, and amount of beats did not correlate with the size of the gorillas, but sound frequency did, the Guardian reports. To determine each gorilla's size, the researchers used cameras with lasers to photograph and measure each gorilla's back, reports Nicola Davis for the Guardian. The research team used audio equipment to record the sound frequency, rate, duration, and amount of chest pounds. Scientists observed 25 wild male mountain gorillas for over 3,000 hours at Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda between 20, National Geographic reports. The study was published last week in Scientific Reports. Researchers suspect the gorillas exhibit this behavior not to instigate fights, but to prevent them-and chest-pummeling could be used to advertise their body size to other gorillas, reports Jason Bittel for National Geographic. While the behavior is observed in male gorillas in the wild and researchers have speculated about what the behavior might mean, there hasn't been enough research to establish a consensus. Gorillas in films such as King Kong and Tarzan are depicted aggressively beating their chests when under threat.

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