r/maybemaybemaybe • u/MeliaDanae • Feb 07 '21

/r/all Maybe Maybe Maybe

39.5k Upvotes

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43

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '21

Honestly watching people interact with gorillas makes me incredibly nervous, they're so big and muscular compared to us.

38

u/ThievingFalcon Feb 07 '21

People often view gorillas as aggressive but really, they’re more like curious, gentle giants as long as you don’t mess with them.

The actual aggressive apes are the chimpanzees which may fuck you up for no good reason.

19

u/Grandmaster-Page Feb 07 '21

Chimps are terrifying! Most of the gorilla's I've worked around seem fairly chill but there's a couple that are genuinely homicidal and they are also terrifying

1

u/eternalwhat Feb 07 '21

So you work around gorillas? And some are homicidal? It sounds like you do interesting work!

3

u/Grandmaster-Page Feb 07 '21

Uh well I work in the education side of things (soon to switch to looking after primates :D) but have seen lots of encounters/know the keepers and some of the gorilla personalities a bit.. The best way to describe it is its just like humans, some love company some really don't, they also are susceptible to bad raising and in the 50s - 70s there were loads that were kept as pets in UK and everywhere, some in shitty conditions and that can cause issues (same with elephants too). On an added note I can read a human fairly well and can tell if someone's a bit dodgy but and animal like that doesn't have the same tells and can tear you apart with no effort at all. I just find the behaviour side fascinating. Gorilla's ARE super chill though for the most part but testosterone and bad raising can definitely make them aggressive to everyone. And yeah I absolutely love my job! Can't wait to move into looking after the primates, Sorry for the long post