It is virtually impossible to resist the hillbilly charm of a gorilla — we dare you, go ahead and try! They’re so incredibly cute! You point your camera at them… and just as you’re ready to take the shot… they give you a big toothy cheshire grin and stick their tongue out at you! While maybe you should be insulted, you find yourself laughing instead… plus you have a cherished video to share with all your friends.
It’s hard not to laugh when the king of the jungle starts playing with his genitals right out in the open in front of dozens of gawkers! You know you SHOULD look away, but like the bright glare of the midday sun, you find you just can’t. Their amorous behavior is so fascinating, it brings out your primal voyeuristic instincts, plus they don’t seem to mind the “intrusion.” In this way, gorillas are the ultimate unapologetic exhibitionists we secretly envy and cheer… we all know who the real heroes are at professional sporting events, right? The streakers of course! We know you’re still laughing about the Wimbledon streaker a few years ago even if you don’t admit it! Gorillas don’t do it to be dirty, or even funny. Still, these furry humanoids tickle our funny bones because they are almost us — just a wilder unencumbered version of us — perhaps the way we’d be if we really let our hair down and polite society didn’t curtail so much of our natural inclinations! A mid-day twiddle in the sun, why not!
There are many other things that Gorillas do openly that we only do in private. For example, according to research published in Journal of Clinical Psychology from the University of Wisconsin, 91 percent of humans pick their nose! However, only a tiny percentage of people actually admit this and almost no one does it in public! However, gorillas don’t have these same hang ups! They nonchalant nose pick (and eat it too) for all the world to see! There’s something quite amusing to see an enormous hairy humanoid publicly display a habit we only do in private and snicker at, not to mention the fact that those extra large gorilla nostrils harbor enormous boogers! It’s a good thing those rhinotillexomaniacs have extra thick fingers to rake those things out!
And speaking of gorilla noses… you true crime buffs will love this one…
Wildlife managers in Africa take gorilla nose prints just like we take fingerprints to help solve crimes! Each gorilla nose print is completely unique. The print takes the outline of the nostrils and the lines on the bridge. Noseprinting wild gorillas helps wildlife managers and wardens track poachers, arrest them, and prevent them from poaching. It also helps keep track of the population as they migrate.
When looking back at your childhood, one of the hallmarks of fun was of course the infamous pillow fight! It was wonderful! You could vent all your aggression but still know in the back of your mind you weren’t going to actually hurt anyone as you slugged away at them!
While gorillas don’t have pillows, they do the next best thing… they fling their poo at each other. They also fling their poo at other primates who happen to irritate them, like those curious Homo sapiens who point their camcorders at them! In fact, gorillas seem to revel in this activity and do it just for fun, often exhibiting sounds very close to human laugher when their projectile dung evokes a shocked response! You have to admit, this activity truly IS funny, even when you yourself are the unfortunate target. However, it’s even funnier when they target the more obnoxious members of our species. We secretly cheer the gorillas on, hoping they’ll fling even more poo, and we secretly wish we could get away with such a clever insult!
Gorillas are beloved the world over. After all, with more than 98 percent shared DNA with humans, they remind us of wilder versions of ourselves! You know… that side of ourselves that we hide away from the world because so we don’t commit a social faux pas. Gorillas took a slightly different route on the evolutionary tree, and because of this, they show us the most honest version of what primates are all about!
The bond between humans and gorillas that come in contact can be as tight and as long-lasting as a human to human bond! For example, David Aspinall, a well known gorilla conservationist, raised two gorilla babies in captivity and then released them into the wild. TWELVE years later, he went back to where they had been released and they greeted him with warm embraces as if he was a long lost family member. Even more amazing, they did the same with his then grown-up daughter who had been just a child when they last saw her! They actually recognized her as an adult and treated her like family! It was a heart-warming family reunion for all, especially since the gorillas seemed to be doing so well in the wild!
As you can see, gorillas are fascinating creatures who essentially show us a different version of ourselves. Unfortunately, however, these exquisite creatures are now critically endangered primarily due to habitat destruction, habitat fragmentation, illegal hunting for “bush meat” (primate meat), and the illegal pet trade. In fact, there’s only 700-800 mountain gorillas left in the entire world! Luckily, there are people working very hard to protect them, at times putting their own lives on the line to do so!
Although illegal pet traders usually try to capture immature gorillas, they usually end up killing one or both or the parents as it is the natural instinct of gorillas to fiercely defend their progeny…. sound familiar? Another human-like trait! They care as deeply about their children as we do!
The Glasgow Gorilla has made a solid commitment to help save our wild cousins. As part of this effort, we are donating 5 percent of every sale to the Gearing Up For Gorillas project in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a intensive international effort that also trains and employs many local people from one of the most poverty stricken areas in the world! The Gearing Up For Gorillas project has made great strides in protecting the mountain gorillas which are the most seriously endangered of all the gorillas. You can learn more about this incredible effort by visiting this website: http://www.g4g.co.uk/ or by asking us when we consult with you on your website design and SEO work. We are very proud to take part in this effort to save the wild gorillas and in the gorillian effort we take to help our clients!
