English

Noun

blackback ‎(plural blackbacks)

1. (zoology) An adolescent male gorilla or chimpanzee.
   • 1979, A. H. Harcourt, "Contrasts between Male Relationships in Wild Gorilla Groups," Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 40:

     The author worked with two main study groups of gorilla in that region. Each contained a fully mature male (silverback), who was the obvious leader of the group, and a younger male of around 9 years of age (blackback), who had not yet assumed full adult morphology.

   • 2005, B. J. Bradley et al., "Mountain Gorilla Tug-of-War," PNAS, vol. 102, no. 26, p. 9421:

     The second-ranking silverback is also a possible sire in the sixth case, although three other lower-ranking blackback males were also not excluded.

2. (Britain) the great black-backed gull.

See also

• silverback