What the tense moment when a stray dog jumped into a zoo's gorilla habitat

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Originally published at: What the tense moment when a stray dog jumped into a zoo's gorilla habitat | Boing Boing

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Jeez, they talk like the gorillas wanted to tear the dog apart or something. They probably only wanted to pet the pup. Gorillas are not usually violent unless threatened, so why is everyone treating this like a disaster nearly averted?

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One of the highlights of any year in news for me is any story that involves a religious fantatic hopping into a zoo enclosure, usually to disastrous effect for the would-be prosthelytiser. This is a nice variation on that, with a far more charming protagonist.

Is it just me anthropomorphizing things or does gorilla dad start shaking his head in warning when the doggo tries to make a second attempt at playtime?

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Because wild animals are unpredictable. They may not have approached one another with the intention of harm, but anything could have spooked either party that may very well have ended in violence.

Also, gorillas don’t, in general, know what dogs are (unless they grew up with dogs), and dogs, in general, don’t know what gorillas are (unless, see above). I’d say it’s near impossible that they wantd to “pet the pup” - they’re not humans, I really doubt their first instinct toward a four-legged, agitated carnivore would be to pet it.

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I doubt they’d be happy with a predator around their younglings.

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Gorillas tend to be cat people

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Not a expert but that does not look like a shepherd to me. This is not a picture of my dog, but might as well be. We were told it was a Shepherd when he was a pup and starting doubting it as he grew. I could also see my dog wandering into a gorilla cage.

[(https://thehappypuppysite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/black-mouth-cur-5.jpg)

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To a gorilla, a dog is a wolf. Or maybe a jackal. Either one would be something that their instincts would trigger on.

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Aw, what a lovely looking lad.

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So what is a “shepherd” in this context? Just asking because neither of the dogs in question (both very cute, mind) look like any breed with “shepherd” in its name that I’m familiar with. (To me the dog on the photo looks like a Staffordshire/something-taller mix. The one in the video is kind of your standard mutt, I guess?)

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I think the breed is the Commander Shepherd, because it is courageous, adventurous, and up for interspecies sex.

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