FOLKS, this is what it means to be carefree and easy-breezy! This is what it looks like to love life and dance like no one’s watching!
This amazing video shows Zola the gorilla splashing, thrashing and spinning like a top in the plastic pool in a manner that brings to mind an overgrown toddler. The video has racked up nearly millions of views so far leading many to refer to Zola on social media and in news headlines as the “breakdancing gorilla.”
“We’ve always known he likes water, but we weren’t expecting the full washing machine-style spin that we caught on camera,” the Dallas Zoo’s mammal curator, Keith Zdrojewski, told The Washington Post. “He also loves to splash and do this type of behavior in the rain.” Zdrojewski adds that the pool isn’t just for fun and is considered an “enrichment item” that zookeepers use to engage primates.
“Enrichment can take many forms; it can be an object such as a ball, a scent like an herb or perfume, visual stimulation such as a mirror, a change in an animal’s company or location, an activity like painting or training, introduction of a new food, or a challenging food presentation … the options are almost limitless!” the Dallas Zoo said “As keepers, we are constantly coming up with new and fresh ways to enrich our animals. And clearly, the pool is a favorite for Zola!”
Ian Redmond, a renowned conservationist and the founder of the Ape Alliance, agreed that Zola was expressing “exuberant play” with elements of “adult display.” “If you look closely at the zoo video, you can see the twirling gorilla has an open-mouthed play face, and I suspect if we had the real soundtrack instead of the superimposed music, we’d probably hear him play-chuckling,” Redmond said. “Zola is having fun. What surprises people who don’t know gorillas is how inventive and joyful their play can be, and how grateful they are.”
May we all live our lives as carefree as Zola. I hope we can all be like Zola one day, and dance like no one’s watching because we all deserve that level of joy in our lives.
