poliphilo: (Default)
poliphilo ([personal profile] poliphilo) wrote2005-10-05 10:22 am

I Heart Gorillas

There was a picture in the paper yesterday of a wild Gorilla wading through a stream. And the big news is that she was using a walking stick.

As the author of the accompanying article, Desmond Morris, said, what we are seeing here is the beginnings of "gorilla technology".

Does this mean that if gorillas are left alone (which they won't be) they will eventually (after several million years) get round to inventing the wheel, the toasting fork and the electric door chime?

Yes. Probably.

Gorillas are peaceable creatures. Vegetarian too. Just imagine the civilisation they might have created if they'd got to the walking stick before us.

[identity profile] sorenr.livejournal.com 2005-10-05 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe we too were perfectly peaceful before we started using walking sticks?

[identity profile] poliphilo.livejournal.com 2005-10-05 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
That is a possibility....

I guess we need to stick around and see whether the gorillas ever start hitting one another with their walking sticks.

[identity profile] sorenr.livejournal.com 2005-10-05 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
They'll probably be extinct before they get as far as that...