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Are gorillas friendly to humans?
- Last updated: 2 weeks ago
- By Editorial Team
Are gorillas friendly to humans?
Gorillas may look intimidating and unfriendly especially if you look at their photos especially of mighty silverback males with their arms spread wide and chest puffed out evoke a very fierce posture. The sheer size and strength depicted can make one reconsider an in-person meeting with a silverback.
It’s easy to easily presume them to be dangerous, and almost instantly aggressive but, this isn’t always the case.
Your first foray into a gorilla’s habitat, be it in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest or the Virunga slopes in Rwanda, is not characterized by fear. Rather, an unusual blend of awe and respect captures your attention.
When there, you are surrounded by creatures who, if they wanted to, could effortlessly destroy you with a single swipe—but they choose not to. Normally, they regard you with silent stillness. If there is any concern about your presence, it is far more curious than menacing.
Whatever the case, it is always useful to know this much about gorilla etiquette. While it is true that they don’t rush to attack, rest assured that they’re also not furry mascots waiting for a friendly forest embrace. Like all animals, they operate under their own system which must be carefully respected.
Gorillas are gentle and friendly in nature
Gorillas are gentle creatures. Their daily activities include foraging for vegetation, relaxing, grooming, and occasionally playing with their offspring. As noted by Friendly Gorillas Safaris, a company that has for many years been bringing tourists to the region, gorillas seem mostly to be busy foraging or sitting the entire portion of the day.
Searching for food, raising their infants, caring form families are the only thing on their agenda. There is little to no quarrels seeking, no perceiving of humans as hunters, nor any other scavenger activities.
Aggression for gorillas, always comes as a last resort. It only occurs when every other form of communication has failed.
In practice, it looks like this: When gorillas are anxious, they trigger a response mark. A silverback may rise, inhale deeply followed by rhythmically beating his chest in a way that his percussion reverberates through the foliage. It is not a hissy fit. Rather, it is a warning. You are too near. I don’t trust your actions. Back off.
If that doesn’t work, the silverback might charge and destroy some branches as he approaches.
Picture a massive animal running toward you; it appears bone-chilling, but in most instances, it’s only a bluff charge. The gorilla pauses, ensuring that he has communicated sufficiently. It is as though you can sense him analyzing you and gauging your reaction.
I’ve spoken to some guides who have seen these kinds of displays numerous times. There is an air of deep calmness when they describe it, almost as if it’s part of an age-old performance.
“They don’t want to fight. They want you to know your place.” This is the clearest form of gorilla aggression; aggression that is protective instead of predatory.
Are gorillas friendly to humans? Pictorial
How to be safe in the presence of Gorillas
Among groups that are accustomed to human presence, these displays are rather rare. Gorillas learn to manage their tolerance to human presence as long as visitors adhere to the following concrete rules:
- A minimum of seven meters distance is required, at times more.
- Avoid facing them as that may be taken as a challenge.
- Moves should be deliberate and gentle.
- Speaking volume must be low.
- Do not attempt touching and feeding them at any point at all.
The guidelines might seem harsh, but they are rather straightforward. In my observations, the gorillas have been quite tolerant even when visitors try to capture pictures while talking in hushed tones. Rather than looking agitated, gorillas appear indifferent for long stretches, attending to young ones or pulling vines.
Things get tense only when the rules are ignored say, stepping too close or moving in a jerky manner. That is the moment the silverback might shift forward, puff his shoulders, and make it clear you’ve gone too far.
So, does this suggest that gorillas lack stability in their behavior? Not exactly. They provide distinct sets of movements and signs of warning that are predictable. Provided that the guide is good which he or she should be the chances of misunderstanding are slim.
Slightly more astounding is the general disregard we seem to invoke in them. You would assume that a creature so powerful would exhibit some form of arrogance or some kind of suspicion. The silverbacks I have been fortunate to observe tend to exude an aura much closer to weary tolerance. Their priorities lie elsewhere safeguarding the troop, foraging, avoiding rival males. They regard tourists as a rare nuisance, barely a danger.
All of this goes to show why it’s slightly soothing to understand that gorillas do not have any particular fascination with us.
All of the effort directed towards studying them like taking photos, writing articles, and telling stories—falls completely short because their overwhelming preference remains carving into bamboo shoots and fig trees. To them, you are insignificant.
There are some folks who pose the question of whether gorillas would be aggressive towards humans, which rises from the belief that all wild animals tend to be aggressive. If you have never been anywhere close to a gorilla, we can understand the sense of dread.
As hard as it may be to believe, aggression is not the norm for gorillas.
Another way to think about gorillas is that they act as guardians. It would be completely misleading to call them warm blooded for lack of a better word.
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Safe Uganda/Rwanda gorilla trekking tips
While they do not attack for no reason, they will defend their space fiercely if ignored after polite warning. That is all.
These tips can go a long way not only for easing fears, but also feeling more prepared before stepping out. If you intend on making the trek to see them, those tips can make all the difference. First, Simple, concrete measures that will make you feel more secure:
- Listen intently to your guide’s briefing. Guidelines may differ from gorilla trekking region to region. In Uganda, for instance, instructions explicitly request people to avoid pointing at gorillas. Which is a common practice, but can oftentimes be misconstrued as threatening.
- Maintain a relaxed posture. Body tension is interpreted as hostility.
- Control, avoid making jerky movements. Even the mechanism for adjusting one’s backpack has to be slow, meticulous and calculated.
- Maintain a distance of at least 12 to 15 feet from each gorilla. Should a gorilla attempt to walk near you, which may happen occasionally, remain motionless.
- Remember to exhale. This is important because a lot of people tend to forget about breathing and may hold their breath.
Experiencing the display of behaviours is unavoidable and is in fact, the highlight of the experience. The first instance of witnessing a silverback exhale and beating his chest, it feels like the air around thickens. For a moment, all the visitors are reminded that they are simply visitors and his strength dwarfs ours, out of nowhere, you feel dwarfed by immense invisible strength.
The moment the silverback settles down, gratitude emerges because this animal repeatedly chooses the path of non-escalation despite possessing the ability to do so.
Maybe if we look at gorillas from a different angle, their stance towards humans could be defined as protective. There’s no intention of stalking or surprise. Creatures monitor, signal warnings. If those signals are heeded, life returns to normal.
It’s a dynamic based on common consideration. You begin to interpret their signals, and they begin to accept your company. There is a silent and almost formal respect to it. You are there simply as an observer, not to interfere.
Conclusion
So if you are pondering whether to book a trip whether to stand in a clearing in the rainforest and gaze into the eyes of a silverback keep this in mind: gorillas do not wait to attack you. They are waiting to decide whether you merit their tranquil acceptance, and if you comply most of the time, you will.
This is the real factor when it comes to the aggression of gorillas. It is much more uncommon and measured than we assume. Provided that most folks come in properly prepared and humble, the encounter will be wonderful rather than fearful.
For those that have not traveled to Africa, it serves as a reminder that both power and tenderness can co-exist. Perhaps you will feel gratitude towards these large creatures. Perhaps you will quietly acknowledge that strength does not always equate to hostility.
Because, more often than not, hostility is absent.
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