A cute moment!

From what I understand, gorillas are pretty docile. Almost like a nice trained doberman, albeit a lot bigger and stronger. The silverback was probably there just to watch, and probably felt his kids should do almost what the guy was.

Don't get me wrong, if he threatened the kids, or offended the silverback, just like with that doberman, he would be in trouble.

But he trusted them(easier to do in a reserve where they are USED to people), and was CAREFUL.

And yeah, it is incredible how big and strong those gorillas get.

Of course, I have trouble trusting HUMANS, so I would probably treat the gorillas as I do bears. Watch at a distance.

Can you imagine how that guy would feel if the kids wanted to play there all day long? He would have to make a dangerous move, or STAY THERE for who knows how long.

Steve

That's nice! THANKS! Unfortunately, you need to make about 50 valid posts, where they are counted, first.

Well, I thought it was nice. I don't even know what those gorillas are thinking about this area. They were likely taken away from their home. They were CAGED! OK, it may be a BIG cage! It may extend for MILES, but it is a CAGE. They probably KNOW this species is responsible. And they are still treating some people almost like someone from another troop that happened in, and groom them accordingly. As far as I am concerned, it is similar to kids going up to a stranger and asking personal questions as if the person were a friend, and the person answering them, and maybe giving them a nice treat while expecting nothing in return.

It just seems more special because they are even another species.

Steve

Interesting factoid, that is common with ALL primates. Maybe that is why autistics often avoid looking directly in the eyes, and why people sometimes try to look in your eyes to see if you are lying. But you don't even want to look into the eyes of a little chimp. You think GORILLAS are strong? For their size, chimps are amazingly so. And chimps are not docile. Kind of ironic, in the movies chimps appear to be funny, and gorrilas fierce. In reality apparently chimps can be fierce, and gorrilas usually just want to be left alone. Fighting only for defense and mates basically.

BTW on one site I checked it said poorly conditioned and captive chimps tend to be about 4-5 times the strength of a human athlete in his prime. Considering the size, that is even more amazing. Of course gorillas are stronger, but they are also much larger.

In that video though, they said that the guy was careful NOT to look any directly in the eye. And only ONE thing would likely be worse than looking in the eyes of a silverback. That is looking into the eyes of one of his kids while he is watching.

Steve