Y’all know I love proboscis monkeys.
Young ones and female ones have smaller noses.
But even a snub nose can frighten!
By the time a male reaches adulthood, he possesses quite the appendage.
It doesn’t slow him down.
In fact, scientists say that droopy snout actually is there to impress the ladies.
And to distract from stained, unseemly incisors.
Who could resist this alluring fellow?
No doubt about it. Orangutans are flexible. Even the wee ones.
And though they are stronger than humans (especially in their arms), they are not invincible.
Laid up on the table, this orangutan looks amazingly human, while vet staff takes out air rifle pellets in his body put there by Sumatran villagers. However, let’s remember that while humans and apes are 97% genetically identical, humans and bananas are 60% genetically identical.
Check out the cheek pads on this Bornean orangutan.
Pretty intimidating, no? But not all orangutans are this serious. These residents of the Rio Zoo enjoyed a Christmas basket of fruit.
Did I mention they like fruit?
I’ll leave you with these fun .gifs, all from giphy.com.
Imposing, grand, primitive, huge…yet with human eyes and expressions, enormous black fingers delicately and expertly stripping away thorns from vegetation, possibly ignoring you altogether or looking you straight in the eye. Respect and awe is given, from human to ape.
These are the words my aunt wrote of her trip to Rwanda earlier this month, in which she was able to witness some of the last remaining mountain gorillas on the planet.
“A silverback gorilla is the mature, experienced male leader of a group of mountain gorillas in the wild. Named for the silver saddles across his back, the silverback is responsible for the safety of his group. A group of gorillas, also called a troop, can contain from 5 to 30 gorillas. The silverback decides where the troop travels, where it forages for food, where it will rest and where it will sleep at night.” (http://animals.mom.me)
