@maplemadame LISTEEENNNNN, there was this like 20min video on youtube where this silverback stepped up when one of the mom's in his troop up and left and this beautiful motherfucker is just...so perfect
bruh we're always told about how males do jack diddly in the animal world bUT GORILLAS??? THE SILVERBACKS ARE LOUNGING ABOUT WITH BABIES CRAWLING ALL OVER THEM LIKE THEY'RE FUCKING HIGH BECAUSE THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF A TROOP IS SO STRONG AND IMPORTANT like okay maybe im overly personifying them but they really do form such strong bonds and a baby just climbs atop the silverback and rolls around and the silverback is like "hmm yes" like just go on youtube and search for "silverback and babies" OHMYGOD LISTEN
so because of industrialization, their habitat is being destroyed but they are creatures of habit so there are many instances of a whole ass troop of gorillas traveling through a village because tHAT WAS THEIR (yearly? they dont migrate but I think the particular troop I read about did like a yearly or monthly route) PATH AND THAT'S JUST WHAT THEY DO and the villagers are like "ohh yeah it's fine just give em space"
AND THAT'S THE OTHER THING TOO, like whoa damn they got big ass teethers right and hecking big muscles but half of it is for show they just pound their chests and yell but most gorilla encounters are just for show. See, these animals arent territorial so threats arent egotistical: if the troop is threatened by solitary males looking for a troop, the silverback will react but again it's mostly all showboating (and i think some showboating happens during mating too, mostly with young inexperienced males, again there was a clip on youtube where a girl went on a gorilla trek for a documentary and there was a young male batting at his chest and tearing down brush to show how stronk and miiighty he was lol)
aLSO LIKE 5 YRS (??)AGO WE GOT THE FIRST FOOTAGE OF GORILLAS DRINKING FROM A STREAM cuz listen Dian Fossey journaled about their aversion to water (they're like cats, ewwww rain my foot is wet lol) and we know the foliage they eat is high in water content but actually having footage of it is pretty intense
ALSO i cant remember if this was a chimp, orangutan, or gorilla but bare with me here they were teaching her how to communicate with one of those picture speaking computers and when she had a baby she started teaching HIM how to communicate with the computer so Planet of the Apes? more likely than you think and i for one welcome our new overlord
alright, ill stop now, half of this information is probably wrong or outdated bUT I STILL LOVE THEM OKAY????
