Amanda Davis 2/3/2001
A few years ago at a zoo in England, a three year old boy fell into a pit where they kept gorillas. He landed on concrete and was unconcious when a female gorilla came up to the boy. Gorillas are known to eat small mammals. This female was known by the zoo workers to be a very aggressive animal. Instead of killing the boy, she got over him and protected him from the other gorillas in the enclosure. They had to tranquilize her to get to the boy. Everyone(including the keepers) said she was protecting the child like it was her baby. Was this instinctual? Why did this
gorilla act this way? She could have attacked the boy. These gorillas had not had human contact, by the way. They were kept far away from humans (including their keepers).
How far psychologically are we really from primates? In survival situations, why do humans revert back to primal instincts? I also find it interesting that humans and animals when kept in isolated enclosures for long periods of time exhibit the same
behaviors(repetitive movement, self-mutilation, depression). Why is this behavior so identical in humans and animals? Why do humans tend to put themselves above animals in importance because the animal kingdom is "less intelligent, and brutal"? Humans should take a close look at their behaviors and do some honest comparing to the behaviors of animals. They might find that many humans are "less intelligent, and more brutal" than what they are comparing themselves too. It makes one wonder, "what exactly is rolling around in the brain of a gorilla?"
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