Planned Attacks

I’m utterly unsurprised by the story today on the BBC about a chimp in a German zoo that has been found to plan it’s stone-throwing attacks on zoo visitors.

One of my memories from [many moons ago] was visiting Twycross Zoo in Warwickshire with my parents when I was about ten (if that). I’ve always been a fan of apes in general, so we went to see the Gorilla House, and in there one of the silverback males took an instant dislike to me. I’ve no idea why – it might’ve been my glasses giving an extra reflection, it could have been anything – but that dislike was instant, and he charged across the enclosure straight at me, bouncing off the glass with a massive thump.

Needless to say, that charge scared me shitless – you don’t think about safety glass when it happens, believe me – so we left, but went back later in the day.  And that same gorilla came straight for me again – as soon as he saw me, bang, charge.

Probably three or four years later, we went back there with my younger brother, and for the hell of it I went back to the Gorilla House. And even after that time, the self-same gorilla saw me, hated me, and charged at the glass.

Obviously that wasn’t a planned behaviour, or planned aggression and attacks in the same way as the chimp at Furuvik, but the sheer memory span, being able to pick out one face among the thousands that must’ve passed through in the meantime, that was always awesome to me.