Gorillas in their Midst

FEW SIGHTS ON earth are as utterly enthralling as a 200kg male gorilla standing bolt-upright with his massive chest out-thrust, flexing his gargantuan shoulders and arm muscles in a show of strength that confounds belief. I was but twenty years old, rooted to the spot in the Johannesburg zoo as I watched the world’s biggest primate grasp a motorcar tyre in his gigantic hands and twist it into a figure-eight, several times, as though it were a rubber band, then toss it aside. I was awe-struck. Mature male gorillas are up to 10 times stronger than male humans. Their bite force is around 1 300psi – twice that of a lion. Yet, paradoxically, they are peace-loving, gentle giants unless provoked or their family group is threatened. And they are almost entirely herbivorous.

is something strangely intriguing about gorillas. Again, the word paradoxical comes to mind – they appear so human, yet at the same time, so primordial. It’s as if I’m in a time warp, gazing at the so-called missing link – it’s eerie. The knowledge that we humans share 98% of our DNA with gorillas strongly augments this