Whether Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner (Or Snack), Silverbacks Eat First...
By Winston D. Munnings
1 Jun 2008
There are a few animal exhibits at the Miami Metro Zoo I really enjoy visiting ... repeatedly. The Western Lowland Gorilla exhibit is certainly one of them.
In an earlier article, I wrote briefly about the best time to visit the Zoo. What I forgot to mention was "...feeding time..." Try to fit in your visit around that time and you are guaranteed to capture some great photographs.
Because its snack time, the animals are very energetic and there's quite a great deal going on between the trainers and the animals in the exhibit. Moreover, it's also very educational. This is when the trainer gets to tell you about the animals, their behavior, habitat, diet (to name a few) and you can ask questions.
Last Saturday Jennifer and I spent almost five hours exhibit-hopping at the Miami Zoo. We had a great time, and we stopped at one of my favorite exhibits just as the trainer was about to give out some treats. What we witnessed was comical as heck but first, a little background from Wikipedia about the Lowland Gorilla.
"...Gorillas, the largest of the living primates, are ground-dwelling herbivores that inhabit the forests of Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and (still under debate as of 2008) either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is 97%–98% identical to that of a human, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after the two chimpanzee species.
Gorillas live in tropical or subtropical forests. Although their range covers a small percentage of Africa, gorillas cover a wide range of elevations. The Mountain Gorilla inhabits the Albertine Rift montane cloud forests of the Virunga Volcanoes, ranging in altitude from 2225 to 4267 m (7300-14000 ft). Lowland Gorillas live in dense forests and lowland swamps and marshes as low as sea level..."
Now back to the story...
As the zoologist trainer began to throw out raisins for the Gorilla family of five (one Silverback male, three females and a youngun girl Gorilla) like clockwork the three adult females and the youngun, almost on cue, immediately retreated to the rear of the exhibit permitting His Royal Highness the Rt. Honorable King Silverback to advance forward to get his fill of the sweet munchies....Uninterrupted.
I thought this was hilarious as the trainer explained what was happening.
Basically, in this primate culture, the Silverback is, undisputedly, the Head Honcho and, like Dracula, he always feeds first. No female or youngun would dare challenge him ... EVER. And guess what? There is no other male in this "...Troop..." to challenge him although Troops in the wild are generally known to have one or more Silverbacks. (Talking about having your cake and eating it too.)
"Ummmmmmmmmm, I remember thinking to myself, what an interesting concept." At about that very moment I looked over at my wife of 35 years and she starred at me as if to say, don't even think about trying that sh_ _ with me ... EVER. At least that's what I thought she was thinking because she certainly was not smiling or amused at what had happened.
This standoff (between the Silverback and his Honeys, that is) continued for about 20 minutes until he got his fill of munchies. Then, like the perfect gentlemen, he slowly moved away to one side of the enclosure as if signaling to his Honeys that he was now done. When the female Gorillas felt assured it was safe they began to advance (with one eye peeled on the Silverback, however) to the front of the enclosure to find their scrapings of raisins.
Needless to say, there wasn't very much left. But who was going to complain? Certainly not the honeys!
This Male Silberback is truly awesome and the epitome of presence and strength. Since we're cousins (primates, that is) there is a natural feeling of closeness if you're lucky to come in direct eye contact with one of these massive herbivores. I think I was kind of lucky in that the Silverback and I locked eyes for a brief moment lasting for at least 15 seconds.
Can't say I got any Gorilla secrets about how to deal with three Honeys, but I quickly turned down a date with the big guy to go Raisin Pickin.
(Click http://www.jpgmag.com/stories/4282 for an earlier article captioned: A Day At The Zoo.)
