Rabu, 30 Desember 2015

Kamis, 17 Desember 2015

Me and My Gorillas

Have you ever seen 'Mighty Joe Young'? It was a movie about  a girl who had a special connection with a gorilla. Both of them lost their mother when they were so young and then they're becoming friends.

Actually the story of the movie is sad for me, but I have never forget that it was the first time in my life that I realized, I love gorillas.

All of my friends will ask, are you crazy? How could it be possible to like animals like that, and I will say, well, gorillas are strong, smart, looked like us in some ways, and even though their appearances are not pretty for most of people (because they are black, big, etc), but they looked so gentle when they treat their families.

Maybe it will be so hard to notice, if you just see gorillas in the zoo, because you can only see them for maybe 10-15 minutes, and you will see them just lying around or eating fruits, and then you will say, they are all lazy and also ugly. But if you spend time to watch the documentary, you would be able to see their activities for whole time, which for me, it proves that gorillas are so complex and in some ways, they are moving gracefully. They protect each other in the family. If a baby gorilla lost its mother, another female gorilla in the troop (a group of gorilla) will take care the baby with pleasure. And even though, everyone will assume (and yeah it's true) that male gorillas looked very fierce, tense, and also furious, but if there is something happens to his troop, he will fight until dead. I will not mention the way a gorilla mother protects its child,  you can guess by yourself.

And I think the stigma that gorilla is fierce and furious, it cannot be completely true. We said that because their size which of course so big (male gorilla's weight could be 400 lb or around 200 kg), and also they have a lot of muscles without have to go the gym at all, but I think actually it's just our assumption. They are herbivore, so basically they do not have any intention to prey us, or to attack us. Some expedition showed that actually they are shy. If we met them, they will hide from us. So the only reason they attack us is because they felt threaten in the first place. That's the reason. They worried about their safety, so they attack human. It's true that male gorillas will fight each other to become a leader in the troop. But I think that's just one thing that they should do in the nature to survive. So, all of the assumption that gorilla is fierce and furious, could not be completely true.

And the perception which said that they are ugly and lazy, it's not true at all. Regarding the ugly thing, I think it depends on your personal taste. Personally, I will say that they are a beautiful creature. They looked strong, they have very good posture, their fur look amazing, and their face looked so serious every time, but I found that actually their face are so funny. Their nose are big and make me want to laugh. And if people said that they are lazy, that's because like I said before we saw them at the zoo, which they do not have to work at all to get food. But in the forest, of course they should find their foods at their own. So they are not lazy. Human makes them lazy.

I will spend days, if I want to write everything about gorillas. But for me, they are amazing creatures, they are unique. I will not fall in love with something that just usual or ordinary. I will fall in love with something that I could say, well this thing is extraordinary, different. And that is gorillas.