Animal behaviour

Reputations in the mist

Gorillas may not be as vegetarian as they are supposed to be

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Readers' comments



" this uncharacteristic behaviour may result from captivity".
Surely that says it all...Bruno Bettelheim reported witnessing practically no civilised or humane behaviour from the inmates of the concentration camp where he was interned, although a good many of them were artists or intellectuals...


Anybody who visited Seattle zoo would sooner of later ask himself - why to keep gorillas there at all? I mean, everyone of us tend to believe that zoo is a place where animals are kept. Not gorillas though. They are not animals. It will take you less than a minute of looking through the thick glass to deeply (and shockingly) realize that they are humans. Forget about hair and stocky bodies, look into their eyes. And never come back to that zoo again.


how about analysing their scat samples in the wild for animal protein? Stuff like hair or feathers are clearly identifiable even without lab tests. and the lab tests themselves are not overly elaborate or expensive.

studying what they do in zoos is clearly not the way towards a hypothesis.

and look into a dog's eyes sometime. they can be remarkably human. depends on the person looking at the eyes! activism has no place in science. first stop using medicines when you're sick and then play the holier-than-thou role. and while you're at it, stop eating meat or wearing leather.

Conscience of a Texan

Interesting, maybe the aggression could be caused with their captivity. A sort of throwback to Thucydides's state of human nature when resources are limited. Then again, western philosophy/classical history probably doesn't transfer to gorillas well.

a piece a peace

- Only one gorilla has been observed eating one bird
- in a study of 71 zoos that probably involved more than 100 gorillas, maybe 200, we are not informed.
- in captivity (a maddening environment for any primate)

YET you conclude that "Gorillas may not be as vegetarian as they are supposed to be".
How low you have fallen, Economist! Not even the Daily Mirror would be as partial, trying to create a falsehood out of an invalid sample.


'Gorillas in the mist'
and now
'Reputations in the mist'
What a lovely evocative line



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