I found this pretty intersting. Something you dont see everyday for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad7qzI03fqE...feature=related

Dantallus,

Cool ! Thanks !

Pat..

Wow that was really cool. I never saw one do that before.

Now that is something you don't see everyday. I found the arm swing interesting.

I noticed the arm swing as well. I wonder if it's natural walking posture for him or if some coaching was involved as far as arm swing. If he does it naturally so much for arm swing being a "human only" trait. It also looks as if he is at least attempting to lock the knee as well. Or maybe it's a guy in a suit?

interesting new video of mountain gorilla walking like human would. ty bill g

Dantallus,

Gorillas are known to walk bipedally now an again. I've seen them do it in variouse tv programs, arm swing as well, in most cases the gorilla was in disstress to some degree.
As for lockin' out the knee, I only checked it out a few times quick, but just the same, I didn't see it. In researchin' bipedalism, anatomy etc. sometime back, I came across a paper/article that mentioned chimps aren't capable of lockin' there knees straight out, I would expect the same would be true with gorillas(but not positive), not to mention it is also visible with the subject in the P/G Film...interestin' !

Pat...

WOW, that's incredible..

That Boy's got one serious Head..

Reminds me of Samson, at 6'7", 675lbs. he was an extroudainary gorrila and quite often walk bipedal.




Thanks, Shane

Hi Shane- There is a lot of mythology relating to the size of captive (and wild killed) gorillas. In essence bigger things draw bigger crowds so zoos have had a propensity to exaggerate the size of their gorillas (and historically to fatten them though that has fortunately mostly stopped). I've dug into this a little and have never found a proper record of any gorilla that was accurately measured to be this tall. I've found a questionable 6'3" which I'm suspicious of, but think is about the max. since there seem to be some around 6'2". From what I can find on Samson (the first), who was indeed enormous, he maxed out at about 610 lbs before going on a diet, but I can't find anything on his height. If you have or have seen any good documentation of these measurements I'd be very interested in seeing them.

Has anyone seen the exhibit on him at the Milwaukee Public Museum? (I haven't).

-A

*nevermind, Apeman beat me to it*

Apeman, I thought i would add a link that state if you read through "about Samson" it states his heaviest was 652lbs, So, I was off by 20 lbs, He was also, very large boned for a gorilla. I always check to make sure my input is verified, I haven't found the article by the man who cared for him all those years but he himself stated samson was near 6'7"
http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/special/samson/


P.S. And yes you are right they did attempt to put him on a diet.


Thanks, Shane

I haven't seen the exhibit at the museum, but I saw him many times while he was alive. He was an awesome creature! One time, a large group was in front of his cage and they all moved on leaving little ole me standing alone there. I was just standing there watching him closely and he stood up and walked over to the window, stretched his arms out, looked around (as if to say, "Hey, where did everybody go?") then looked at me and BAM he hit the plexiglass, which scared me. I looked at the screws in the plexiglass and saw cracks (not fresh). I decided that it was possible for him to break that plexiglass if he set his mind to it. But, deciding I was still safe for the moment, I continued watching him. He continued watching me too and hit the glass again. That's when I decided it was best to move on.

His head nearly touched the top of the pane of plexiglass so it would be easy enough to verify his height. I know he was easily six foot something.