I suppose man moving in and taking over their natural habitats and confining them to zoos is respect… Perhaps the children learned that type of respect from studying the way the Native Americans were treated…?
I’m not so sure this had anything to do with what the girl was doing. It looks like gorilla went straight for the guy holding the camera.
1 Like
Some might understand, I doubt if these did. The problem is that the gorilla doesn’t know why they are doing it.
Very carefully!
I think it’s an institutional problem, that zoos, parents, and the culture at large don’t care to overcome the ignorance. If the mean primate was an armored trooper with automatic weapons, and the kid screamed “Help, my parents have a bomb!” just for yuks, I don’t doubt that the parents would be aware of the gravity of their situation. The kids would be made to understand that they had to mind their behavior quickly, or else somebody could be hurt or killed. But, apparently, zoos are “entertainment”, where captive animals who are much stronger and faster than humans are perceived as being divorced from consequences because there is a window between them.
This ignorance is also the reason why humans tend to resort to genocide of other animals rather than live with them.
1 Like
I’m just amazed that these zoos put gorillas (and other animals) in a situation where they can* be taunted. Seems like there should be a one-way mirror to at least make the gorillas less aware that they are being watched and people might be less tempted to taunt them. Or maybe the gorillas wouldn’t like looking at themselves…
2 Likes
No one could forsee this?
6 Likes
“Don’t be ROUGH!”
–7 year old John Brisby, at the polar bear exhibit in “7 UP”
2 Likes
I can agree with this… but I think that, of the groups mentioned above, the onus should be more on the zoos, as I feel their reason for being should be to educate, not just to entertain. If we leave it strictly to “common sense”, I am sure most parents would not allow their children to throw rocks at a gorilla, but most would not be aware that pounding your chest is a sign of provocation. After all, many of us grew up seeing Tarzan doing it and went to zoos where there were no signs telling us not to.
Or maybe I was out sick on gorilla lesson day in grade school 
3 Likes
Thumping your chest is a provocative gesture, whether you know it means anything special to the species or not. Especially with primates since they’re so intelligent. I wouldn’t “blame” these kids or even the parents for anything. But I still think between the zoo and parents, a little forethought could probably avoid most problems. It’s not really rocket science. It’s just ignorance.
Also - I wonder why zoos don’t use one-way mirrors so the animals can’t see the people. Maybe seeing reflected animals would agitate them as well?
You don’t really know much about children, do you?
1 Like
1 Like
I have two and they’re loud as fu¢k. That doesn’t really change anything about what I said. Keeping primates in captivity is almost like keeping humans in captivity. They should be treated with respect or not kept in zoos. I’m not saying the kids are bad kids. Just that primates + zoos + kids, if we’re going to do it – (I don’t think we should) – SHOULD be hard and a lot of work. If not, we’re just selfish a$$holes.
4 Likes
There is no such thing as a one-way mirror, in the sense of “Glass which only lets you see through it one way in all circumstances”.
One-way mirrors would only function when the side the gorilla is on is well lit (fine) and the side the visitors are in is completely dark (not so fine).
This means that:
- The viewing area would have to be inside a building in an area with completely opaque doors that is designed to block external light.
- Either a special set of darkroom style doors or a specially designed zigzag hallway or hallway with multiple curtains would be needed to ensure that light does not enter when someone enters the viewing area.
- It would be hard for the visitors to see.
- And it all may fall apart once one of the visitors decides to pull out their brightly lit cell phone.
Makes sense, thx. If we’re really serious about doing better for primates in captivity, maybe we SHOULD do all that work to get a one-way mirror working.
At some point we’ll be evolved enough to realize that zoos are inhumane for animals with higher-order intelligence. Where the bar is to determine “higher-order” I don’t know. But gorillas clear it by a lot.
1 Like
If there’s one thing Silverback Gorillas hate more than challenges to their dominance it’s Paparazzi.
4 Likes
Which is why people are doomed as a species.
All species are doomed as a species.
3 Likes
That was just Gorilla speak for “get off my lawn, you naked little apes” – we have a similar silverback neighbor…
2 Likes
I think the one who caused the problem here is the engineer who designed the enclosure. How about a safety factor? It is hard to tell if there was a second barrier but still, since the glass/plastic broke, man or animal could have been hurt. That did not look like an extremely violent hit,and you would think the partition would be rated for much more.
1 Like
Yes, I know. I was thinking of zoos where, like the one in the video, the spectators are inside. One-way mirrors don’t need to be completely reflective to be effective in diminishing the opportunity for visitors to agitate the specimens.
2 Likes
This is another video of funny animals attacks
