When someone mentions the word “gorilla,” what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you’re like me, you will probably think of words like impressive, serious, intimidating, and many others. I think each animal has a certain feature about him or her that makes us associate them to a certain personality. For those of us who have had the opportunity of seeing a gorilla up close, we can all agree that they are indeed intimidating.
In fact, one of the most known features that they have is their incredible strength. They might look small on TV, but I guarantee there much bigger in person. A male gorilla is so strong that he can throw an average adult from one side of a suburban street to the other using one arm. Many researchers have found out just how intimidating they can be.
I remember seeing this video of a group of biologists who travel to the habitats where these wonderful creatures live. A couple of them are recording a group of gorillas. In total, they were about six. A couple of babies, three females and an alpha male. The alpha male was huge in comparison to the females. He was also much bigger than any of the researchers. Something about the way that the researchers were positioned bothered the alpha male for some reason.
The alpha male decides to send them the message that they shouldn’t be so close. The alpha male starts pounding his chest and without notice charges the researchers. At this point, the researchers know there is no sense in trying to run. If they do, the alpha male will go after them and something bad will happen. They stand their ground and watch as the alpha male gets very close. Because it was only a warning, the alpha male stops his charge and goes back to his group. The researchers live another day and have a fantastic story to tell when they go back home.
When people go to the zoo they are normally expecting to see similar displays of power and authority. Usually, they do. The alpha male controls what happens in his group using brute force. When a couple of friends visited the zoo, they decide to look at the gorillas. They find the place where they are and start filming. At first, they don’t seem to be doing much of anything.
One of them is hanging on a rope or some sort of net. The other one is just sitting there watching people pass by. The two friends start having a conversation about how they’re not doing much. Suddenly, one of the gorillas stops playing on the ground and does something amazing. You might think that gorillas don’t have secret fantasies that they would like to carry out. It turns out they do. And you are going to be one of the lucky persons that get to see what it is.
