6 Foot Gorilla Catches Zookeepers Off Guard Resulting In Rare Footage Spreading Wide And Far On The Internet

Dec 14, 2020

Guests visiting the Port Lympne Zoo located in Kent, England, were in for quite the treat on this particular day. Much to their surprise, they got to witness a silverback gorilla walking around his enclosure just like a human! Since word got out about the gorilla’s talent, many have flocked to the zoo to witness him in action for themselves.

Gorillas are one of our closest cousins. We share 98% of our human DNA with them, According to Scientific American, and they are always fascinating to observe. But one gorilla has made the similarities even more obvious.

In 2011, the then 20-year-old gorilla named Ambam shot to international fame after a video of him standing and walking upright like humans do went viral.

The silverback was showing off the talent that he learned from his father. Ambam doesn’t always walk on two legs, however. He behaves like any normal gorilla, hanging out with his peers, snacking on some tasty plants, and walking on his knuckles like the other gorillas.

When the video was first posted, the BBC reported that it gained 250,000 views in just a short time and now has just over 3.6 million views. The video of Ambam attracted a lot of visitors to the zoo. Since then, animal lovers who have seen Ambam in person have posted their own videos of his talent on YouTube. One video about Ambam, posted by On Demand News, currently boasts close to a whopping 14.5 million views.

The video has invited a lot of funny comments, many talking about how “ripped,” or muscular Ambam looks“When girls say they want a man over 6 feet,” wrote one viewer. Another person’s comment, which mentions Ambam’s great posture, has received over 3,200 likes.

Ambam’s home in Port Lympne is a wildlife preserve that dozens of animals call their home. He is the second generation of his lineage that has lived there, and many other types of endangered species such s black rhinos and African elephants live there in order to be bred to keep the species alive.

However, the part of the zoo that is most notable is the Palace of the Apes. This is a huge deal for the species because all of the different types of gorillas are becoming more and more endangered over time. It's amazing to see a place so committed to caring for these undermined species and allowing the public to take part in witnessing their beautiful existence. 

Ambam is one of the largest silverback gorillas that resides in Port Lympne. He stands at an impressive six feet tall! Although this isn’t literal for most gorillas, it is for Ambam. Mimicking the way humans walk and stand, he often stands at his full height, walking around the enclosure on two legs. Although it isn’t entirely clear who he learned it from, the gorilla keeper Phil Ridges believes that he learned it from his father, who also used to stand in this manner.

"Ambam’s father Bitam used to display the same behavior if he had handfuls of food to carry," Ridges said, according to NBC. "Ambam also has a full sister, Tamba, and a half sister ... who also sometimes stand and walk in the same way."

"All gorillas can do it to some extent but we haven’t got any who do it like Ambam and he is quite a celebrity at the park," he continued. "We think he might use it to get a height advantage to look over the wall when keepers come to feed him and standing up can also help him in looking for food generally in his enclosure as it gives him a better vantage point."

Ambam celebrated his 30th birthday in April this year. Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve took to Facebook to commemorate his birthday and posted a picture of him standing upright with the caption: “"Where's my cake?" Sorry Ambam, we owe you one! Happy 30th birthday ” Fans of Ambam wished the great ape a happy birthday and some even shared their own photos of Ambam on two legs. According to the National Geographic, gorillas have a lifespan of about 35 years in the wild.

Facts about gorillas

• A group of gorillas is called a troop. “Troops are led by one dominant, older adult male, often called a silverback because of the swath of silver hair that adorns his otherwise dark fur,” as per the National Geographic.

• The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that there are about 100,000 western lowland gorillas that exist in the world today, making them a critically endangered species. The mountain gorilla is a subspecies of the eastern gorilla, one of the two species of gorilla, the other being western. Harambe, one of the world’s most well-known gorillas, was a western lowland gorilla just like Ambam.

• These magnificent beings can eat all day, every day. In their lifetime, mountain gorillas will spend 25% of all their hours just fuelling up and keeping their bellies full. Their diet consists of mainly leaves and shoots. WWF notes that they sometimes eat other things like ants, bark, and even snails.

• Besides DNA, another thing that gorillas do that humans do also is cozy up together at night. Members of a troop will sleep together in nests that they  have made. These nests are usually found on the ground or in trees. Infants (that’s what a baby gorilla is called, too) will share a nest with their mothers to keep safe and warm. Pregnant gorillas have a gestation period for about nine months, also like humans.

• Gorillas have 16 different types of call, and they all mean different things. They make short barks when they are slightly alarmed or are curious about something, and roar or hoot when they want to intimidate rivals.

And perhaps the most interesting fact of all - the scientific name for the western lowland gorilla is 'Gorilla gorilla gorilla'!

Ambam’s sister has also adopted his habit but doesn’t do it as frequently as her male sibling. What do you think about Ambam’s amazing walk? Would you visit the zoo to see his unusual method of transportation? Let us know in the comments – and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!