Gorilla cracks glass at Henry Doorly Zoo, video catches fire online

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/zoo/gorilla-cracks-glass-at-henry-doorly-zoo-video-catches-fire/article_c1f3b9be-e510-11e4-81cc-c7eed314fe32.html

POSTED: FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 9:48 AM | UPDATED: 10:03 AM, FRI APR 17, 2015.
By Chris Peters / World-Herald staff writer

Overnight, an Omaha ape went viral.

Around 9 p.m. Thursday, YouTube user “BULL DOG” posted a video of a silverback gorilla cracking the glass at the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium. In the first 12 hours, the video accumulated about 750,000 views.

The 12-second video opens with a little girl staring into the gorilla enclosure at the Hubbard Gorilla Valley, waving at a nearby gorilla. Then, the camera pans to a gorilla deeper into the exhibit. That gorilla then charges and throws its black and grey furry fists into the glass, sending cracks shooting out.

The man recording exclaims, “Oh, man!” and he and two children flee from the exhibit.

[samsingh]

1. beautiful animals

[onehandle]

2. The look on the parents' faces at the moment of impact are priceless --->

'When Idiots Taunt Animals'

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[Half-Century Man]

6. That awkward moment

When you realize that today, a technological advantage might not be enough.

[jberryhill]

3. "waving at a nearby gorilla"

No, that's not at all what she is doing.

You can clearly see that she is beating her chest with her fists, which is a gorilla threat display.

Odd that the reporter saw fit to clean up that bit.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Many technical errors in the article.

For instance, the fists didn't break it. The cracks in the glass radiate from his right knee, which opens the possibility he may have also injured himself.

[packman]

4. I love to see things like this

When people start to think that all wild animals are Disney cartoon characters and show a lack of respect for them. Good for the gorillas.

[BlueCaliDem]

5. A lot of people don't understand that when you thump your chest like that,

you're challenging the dominant male to a fight for his supreme position. It also stresses the gorilla out.

I've had to correct a few L.A. Zoo visitors when they were laughing and driving the poor Silverback nuts by all thumping on their chest, making him do the same. He didn't attack, but you could just feel the tension growing in the air around him.

It's fun to watch chest-thumping in cartoons and movies, but it's a sign of challenge to a dominant gorilla male - and he will take you up on that challenge, as we've seen.

[chervilant]

7. And, he laughs!!!

The hubris of our pathetic species is grotesquely evident in incidences like this one.

[951-Riverside]

8. I like how he did a little misdirection 0:02 and never made eye contact until the last second

They are incredibly smart animals.

[Sunlei]

9. wish those observation windows were one way glass, so animals weren't tormented.

[byronius]

10. +1000

[MADem]

11. Good idea. It would be nice if the zoo did a little "education" about how to behave around the

animals, too. I don't think that small child did that chest thump thing to be mean or to challenge the creature--she just wasn't taught the right way to behave.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. I don't think the window in on their tiny prison is the main torment.

[shebornik]

13. Wish those windows didn't exsist.

The only way to stop tormenting wild animals is to stop destroying their homes and leave them alone. But that would require a major attitude change in the dominant species of this planet, and I don't think they have evolved enough yet to manage that.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

15. A major attitude change.

Like every other issue, it's all about the Benjamins. Greed will be the downfall of civilization. It has always been so.