Gorillas Walking Upright

Gorillas walk upright part of the time

Usually they're sitting, or lounging on their backs or moving around on all fours, but little Bomassa often has two hands chock full of food. When he's got carrots, there is no way he is going to let them loose! Instead he toddles around, legs only, and he does it like a pro! An adept and well-practiced walker, Bomassa is grandson to another walker, the inimitable Toni Gorilla.  She tends to walk upright very often, and some say this may be traceable to the fact that she was handraised. These days, whenever possible, the keepers and veterinarians at AZA zoos will try to make sure the mother is taking care of her own baby. When that can't occur due to illness or maternal rejection or other issues, the zoo assembles a team of round the clock caregivers who will handraise the baby. This is a good stopgap measure, but it's not ideal.  It's easier for a gorilla baby to learn gorilla ways from other gorillas than from people.

Walking with Mom

Apollo Walks along with his Mom Olympia Gorilla

How to Carry Your Baby--Not!

Olympia is a good mom, 

but she seems a little clumsy when she puts little Apollo on her back. When I visited recently, Apollo was just about to turn sixteen months old, and was playing in his mom's lap. I don't see that happening a whole lot. Yes, he still nurses, but on this day, they were just enjoying each others' warmth, I believe, which is rare. It was sweet to see them cuddle for a bit. And then when Olympia was ready to move along, she tossed him up over her head so that she could walk away with him riding piggyback. He is adept at readjusting himself, and he righted himself in no time flat. But it's kind of funny to watch. Jamani, the mother of Apollo's big brother Bomassa, seems to be a little more graceful with this maneuver of placing the baby safely on the back. For that matter, so does Acacia, who has much less experience!

Not Olympia's finest moment

Apollo is really looking bigger these days

Here Comes Trouble

Apollo Gorilla is on the march! Here he comes, barreling toward the shelter. It was a drizzly, cool day on Monday when I went out to visit the boys, their moms, and their Auntie Acacia. Everyone was doing well and getting along nicely. Which is to say, that Acacia was amusing herself , Jamani found herself a good place to rest and was cradling or carrying her little boy Bomassa, and Apollo was sticking close to Olympia for the better part of the day.

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The feeding happened right on schedule at 11:30, which meant carrots, peppers and lettuce came hurtling over the wall, and nice big branches of succulent browse found themselves stuck into the fence where the gorillas could easily reach them. A handful of carrots bounced right in front of me. Apollo, now almost fourteen months old,  perked up and came running after those treats of orangy goodness. These boys have to be quick to get something as delicious as a carrot before their mamas see it.

Let's Move!

When Olympia Gorilla moves at the North Carolina Zoo, she really goes

The Drama Mama was steamrolling over the rocks towards the little waterfall at the Forest Glade area of the North Carolina Zoo.  Son Apollo seems to be very trusting of her ability to hold him tightly and keep him safe as she motors from place to place. He's doing his part too, though. He is gripping that huge furry arm of hers with all his might. 

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Soon after I captured this scene, Olympia settled down in the bamboo to munch on some goodies. Apollo crawled a few steps away to play with Bomassa.  When he goes to play, Olympia pretty much just lets him be, even though the boys are getting a little rough with each other. She seems content to turn her back on the two youngsters and let Jamani be the peacekeeper and the disciplinarian.

Mama's Boy

Long gorilla arms

As do all baby gorillas, Bomassa has some pretty long arms. And his mom is graced with two hefty legs, of considerable girth. Using both of those long (and muscular!)  arms, he is grabbing onto Jamani's leg as tight as tight can be. He will not let her go. But she is bee-lining over to some food she wants to pick up, and she is not stopping for anything.

Bomassa's on Twitter

 
So he is trying his darndest to scurry along with those little feet of his!  It's funny, because half the time he is trying hard to get away from his mom, even to the point of biting her when she won't let him venture over and play with his half-brother Apollo.  Why, you might ask, does he not just let go? At six months old, he just wants to feel safe, and if there is one thing Bomassa knows, it's that he can count on his mama to provide protection.

When Gorillas Learn to Walk

Gorilla escape! Baby Bomassa is scrambling away from his mother. She is not far away, just out of the picture to the left. At six months old, and 11 pounds, he is ready to go, go, go! But Jamani Gorilla will grab him back pretty quickly, when  she senses that he is getting too close to the other mom.  He of course wants to go to Olympia, because he wants to entice her baby, his half-brother Apollo to come out and play.

I spoke at length with the keepers and learned what happens when Bomassa is off-exhibit, meaning when he is in the private area where the gorillas sleep at night and spend their days when the weather is cold or nasty. There are times when Bomassa is alone with his mother in their own secure area backstage. Bomassa then runs WILD, climbing incessantly and zooming around, fully exploring the surroundings at top speed. Jamani sees no reason to hold back Bomassa  when he is not in danger of another kidnapping.  He wears himself out back there, says the zookeeper, who looks forward to coming in of a morning, to find out what the little tyke has been up to. Those energetic mornings explain why we often see him sleeping on his mother's back by the time he gets outdoors. But on this warm and delightful day in Asheboro, North Carolina,  it was great to see Bomassa having so much fun on the green grass.

How Gorillas Walk

Why do Gorillas Walk on All Fours?
I can't get over the length of the arms of the babies at the zoo. Baby gorillas are going to grow up to walk most of the time on all fours, and this is possible because of those long arms.  Some would say that gorillas have long arms because they walk on all four limbs, but no. It's more likely that they find it comfortable to walk on all  fours because their arms happen to be long, and their hands happen to be big. And what an animal is comfortable doing due to his body shape, an animal will do.

As we have pointed out before in these pages, gorillas can walk on two legs for short distances. Songs of the Gorilla Nation  describes a rainy day on which some of the gorillas at the Seattle zoo avoided the mud to the greatest extent possible by walking on two legs instead of squishing all their four limbs through the mud. This way they had less mud to clean off.   Their feet got dirty but their hands stayed clean. Just another indication of the intelligence of the amazing species we call Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla.

Gorillas and Opposable Toes

Gorilla bodies are awesome. They've got opposable toes; what would be the big toe is more like a thumb, allowing gorillas to grip with their feet. Imagine what skilled climbers we humans could be if we could use our hands to grip the upper branch, and our feet to wrap all the way around a lower branch. That's one thing a gorilla has over us: climbing capability. Additionally, their arms are longer, proportionally,  than ours which comes in handy when they are romping around on all fours.

I love how the moms lounge around with their babies. They'll  just stick a foot right up in the air and then reach up the arm, and hold hands with their own foot as seen here. And the babies will lie on the warm belly and stretch out, or work the neck muscles, or try to figure out how to employ their sweet little  hands.  Such is the after-meals routine of the gorilla mom and baby. Eat. Relax. What a life.  Here we have a full view of Olympia and Apollo, while Jamani, who is nursing little Bomassa, has her back to the visitors.