When zoo visitors pull out their phones to capture a video, they have an eager audience for the replay — and no, it's not through Tik Tok.
In fact, the great apes love to watch videos of themselves, which worries zookeepers.
In Louisville, KY, the keepers allow gorilla Jelani, a devoted video fan, to indulge her love of screen time. In Toronto, keepers discourage the practice. In San Diego, they also discourage videos, and explain that they just want gorillas to be gorillas.
The gorillas may disagree. Jelani taps on the glass separation or flicks his finger to encourage visitors to show her their stuff.
In Indianapolis, great ape researcher Robert Shumaker says there is no question the gorillas recognize images in photos and videos. Of course, Shumaker and other researchers have also taught chimpanzees and orangutans to use touch screens and play tic-tac-toe, according to The Wall Street Journal.
