Baby Gorilla Gets Aggressive at the Zoo!

Both the gorilla brothers we write about here are little sweeties, but they are each toying around with their forays into showing their strength. Right now, it's Apollo's turn. Last time I visited, I saw him beating his chest for the first time. Bomassa had started this back in April, so it's nice to see Apollo catching up. Come to think of it, I have not seen Bomassa beating his chest much lately, and I never did see him do it proficiently. Apollo doesn't either. He just kind of throws his arms around and sometimes his big hands land on his chest, and sometimes they don't.

But now, Apollo is also coming to the glass and banging! I have seen one of the adults do this a few times. Jamani will sometimes get irritated with all the laughter and noise. In reaction, she will stand up on two legs and steady herself there for a minute or two about 15 to 20 feet away from the glass, and then CHARGE! She comes running, one arm up in the air, and gives that glass a good whack with her massive open hand. Just one. And then she goes off into the bamboo weed cover so she can find a little peace. But Apollo is now coming to the glass and pounding away with his own little oversized hand, palm open, many times in a row. This does not seem to be in answer to any provocation. Sometimes there are visitors in front of him, and sometimes there are none. He might just be experimenting and entertaining himself. When it was just me and Apollo, he was not pounding at the glass I was standing at. He was down a couple of panels, banging over there.

Much of this aggression gets pointed at big brother. Here comes Apollo now, hand raised to his brother's mother. Bomassa is hiding behind mom, so you can't see him in this shot. Jamani does not like to see Apollo getting after her son so much. She is so big, she is easily able to shoo him away. For the time being, anyway. On the other hand, Apollo still has his moments when he looks purely angelic.

Gorilla Kiss

Social structure is everything when it comes to gorillas. And Olympia is the dominant female in the troop at the North Carolina Zoo. So I was surprised to see her allowing her son Apollo to go over and play kissy face with Jamani! Mother Olympia Gorilla is not even concerned. For a moment there, it looked like she was going to reach out her hand and put a stop to this, but no. She drew back her hand and just sat there nonplussed as Apollo got closer and closer to his Auntie Jamani. Olympia does not tend to get too fussed about what either of the kiddies are doing.

More photographs of the baby gorillas.

Jamani of course has her own son, Bomassa, who has just turned a year old. And he is not far away. He is just out of view in this photo, right behind Jamani's head. He's just about to reach out his hand towards his little half-brother, almost as if to try and separate Apollo from his mom. At one point, Bomassa opened up that toothy mouth of his and got a little biting action in. But Apollo ignored it all, and just kept on communing with Jamani. Eventually they reached out and kissed by touching their lips together. This touching of lips is a frequent occurrence among our North Carolina gorillas. They are sweet animals. It's fun to be able to photograph the ways gorillas show affection for each other.

North Carolina's Cutest Tourist Attraction

If you're on your way to North Carolina any time soon, you absolutely have to stop and see our baby gorillas! Our young boys Apollo and Bomassa are ever so fun to watch now that they're learning to climb. They are getting up sky high now. What you can't tell from this pic, is that Bomassa is hanging from the highest platform on the structure in the middle of the exhibit. The one everyone calls the tree. Scroll down to get an idea of the height of the tree.

Apollo is always struggling to keep up with Bomassa. Big brother is more daring, a little stronger, and definitely more adept and confident. That's why you see Bomassa way up high, and Apollo trying to follow! Apollo never did join his brother on those top branches. He's still timid yet.

Bomassa has been practicing climbing for ages, because his mother has allowed him the freedom. Reports from behind the scenes indicate that when mother and son are in their private quarters, Jamani is happy to let Bomassa climb on his own. She has blessed this activity for many months now, and he has gotten very strong. It used to be that when the gorillas would come out in the mornings, Bomassa would settle in to nurse from his mama and would go right to sleep. He'd be exhausted after a hard morning of climbing.

Jamani does not always stay right with Bomassa as he perches precariously atop the structure. Here above, he finds it convenient to put his foot on her face as he tries to stabilize himself.   You can see the entire tree below. I am guessing the very tops of the tree are a good 12 to 15 feet off the ground.

Bomassa does go up to the very top! I  don't think you would find too many people-moms letting their tiny tots climb up that high. But gorillas have special skills, uncommon strength, very long arms, and gigantic hands with lengthy fingers.  Besides, gorilla feet are shaped so as to function as an extra pair of hands, capable of grabbing on.

It can be scary to watch. But  Bomassa has it under control. Though strongly motivated he is very tentative. He inches along, little by little, grabbing one handhold and not letting go until he knows he's secure.

Below he's attached only at one point of contact and searches very carefully for another before he lets go.

When Bomassa summits Mount Tree, he hangs out where his mom is resting.

But that is not his goal so he does not stay long. Below you see our young blackback first put one foot down on the branch, and then he just lifts his last foot off the platform and gingerly moves forward. He is learning all about how long his limbs are, and what he's capable of. It's exciting to watch him discover his abilities! And yeah, that's his mom yawning in the photo immediately below. You can just barely see her open mouth on the right. She's not worried.  She believes in her son!

Gorillas soon to be Blackbacks

Jamani carefully helps Bomassa down 

Here's Jamani very gingerly helping Bomassa to get down a few months ago.  This won't be happening for long, I shouldn't think.  Bomassa and his half-brother Apollo are getting pretty adept at getting around now. When I was there recently, he was grabbing that fur and climbing up her body so he could go for a ride.  Pretty soon he'll just be jumping off when he is ready to go. I  have missed seeing the boys for the past few weeks. Some days it's been too cold (they won't come out to play if it is not warm enough at the zoo). And there's been some travel and other issues.  I am ready to go back! Have to get out there before Apollo and Bomassa are already blackbacks!