From Graham Houghton
The article about monkeys not understanding when they are being copied (7 May, p 19) reminded me of an incident I observed at Melbourne zoo in 1983. It suggests that while monkeys may not be all that hot at recognising intent in others, gorillas certainly are. It also suggests they are emotionally sensitive and have well-honed critical faculties. What’s more, they are capable of formulating and executing an appropriate response to the behaviour of others.
I was at the zoo taking photographs for a book I was writing and noticed a crowd gathered in front of the gorilla enclosure. I stood 20 metres or so behind this gathering and saw a large male H. sapiens on its left flank doing a “King Kong” to the great amusement of several others. Effectively he was saying to the large male gorilla that was eyeballing him from some 30 metres away, “This is what I think of you, banana brain. Watcha gonna do about it, huh?” He got his answer soon enough.
After about 30 seconds of this nonsense, the gorilla, with what I interpreted as a “You’re about to make my day” sort of look, slowly rose from his sitting position. Then, he reached down and in one swift and balletically smooth move picked up a very large turd and hurled it at the man with unerring accuracy and, had it been a house brick, deadly force.
Aldgate, South Australia
