Gorillas At Play

I just went to The Como Zoo. The primates were all pretty active except the Sakis. They were so JAPANESE. When I got to the gorillas, nothing much was happening. Sampson stayed up in the window to the outside the whole time. Virgil and Jabir started normal dominance activity like chest pounding and scenting down in the pit. They then came up from the pit together, and Jabir brought up a lot of straw bedding. They started play fighting that looked like Greco Roman wrestling and then boxing. At a certain point, they shook each others' hands. Virgil rushed me twice at the window and did keep chest pounding with Jabir. They even play bit each other and threw around the straw. It looked like a pillow fight. I stayed there for about 25 minutes and they kept it up the whole time with short breaks. I have never seen anything in the wild or in captivity that was so amazing. Their chest pounding is just such powerful activity. Virgil, Jabir, and Sampson I miss you already. You are evolving so quickly. It is such a treat to see. I had to leave before you were through, but hopefully we can do it another time. You were so GENTLE with each other though you were play fighting, chest pounding, and biting each other. I must note that this WAS NOT sexual activity.