9781422276372

I N T R O D U C T I O N

This silverback in Zaire’s Virunga National Park silently chews on a stem, demonstrating that gorillas are usually quite silent, the gentle giants of the animal world.

A lifelong resident of eastern Pennsylvania, I have made many visits to the Philadelphia Zoo—on class trips, scout trips, or just as a family activity. I always look forward to seeing all the animals at the zoo, of course, but even as an adult, the highlight for me has always been visiting the primates—especially the gorillas. Thinking of those visits, I realize the reason we all must be drawn to the primates is that they remind us so much of ourselves. For many reasons, I think we feel most akin to the gorillas. Scientif- ically, they share 99 percent of humans’ genetic makeup: they have 48 chromosomes; we have 46. They have two legs and two arms, 10 fingers and 10 toes, small ears on the side of the head, forward-facing eyes, and 32 teeth. Their skulls are also similar to human skulls. Male gorillas are about the size of male humans—5.5 to 6 feet (1.7–1.8 m)—and from a distance could be mistaken for humans. They use their hands to pick and prepare their own food. They eat together and they sleep together. They live in family groups and protect each other. Infants nurse from and stay with their mothers for the first few years. They play with each other and with their parents, not just running and climbing but even creating games with round fruit and other vegetation. As they grow up, they go through a kind of puberty, in which they are not quite mature but are allowed to go out on their own and explore. The young males form groups and search out females—not unlike human teenagers. Gorillas have facial expressions that tell us if they are happy, sad, or upset. They laugh when they are tickled. Dian Fossey once even observed a 3- or 4-year-old gorilla shed tears, when the orphaned gorilla Coco looked

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