This picture is for anyone who doubts the evolutionary genetic link between our species and gorillas....here is a mother gorilla grieving the death of her baby. Very sad but also very fascinating.... Two million years ago our species and apes had a common ancestor whom we split from, the apes followed one branch of the bush, we followed another...
6 comments:
Great picture.
You know, it's not just that we're so closely related to gorillas that facinates me. Many animals are extremely sensitive and emotional creatures, but do not look or act like us, like the pig or elephant. Some, like whales, have an incredibly high level of intelligence on a non-human scale. Too often we measure animals by a human comparison and make judgements based on it.
Thanks to Aristotle who thought animals were inferior because of their lack of language skills, or St. Augustine who felt the same because they weren't capable of having a soul, most humans practice speciesism, which is an ambivalence or hostility to their welfare, like racism.
Right now there's only about 700 mountain gorillas left and are being slaughtered for silly reasons like politics and power. Check out this link to find out more.
http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/
They did find a huge number of undiscovered lowland gorillas recently which is great news.
Aloha
Yep, it's ironic that from a sheer physical standpoint, gorillas could tear us apart, same with lions, elephants, etc. It is only because we happened totally by chance to evolve a superior brain.
Hmmmmmmmmmm interesting topic to ponder.
I have always wanted to make the trek to Rwanda to see the Silverback gorillas. However with the horrible genocide that transpired in Rwanda in 1994 it hasn't been a good place to go. Perhaps some day. love ya, Susan
Thanks for highlighting the gorillas. They are truly amazing animals. They are very gentle giants, very unlike the chimpanzees which are our closest link genetically of any of the apes. Chimpanzees have 4 times the strength in their arms that we do. They are very social and they collectively hunt monkeys and other animals. They communicate in 24 (so far) distinguishable manners of symbols.
KoKo the gorilla was able to express emotions via sign language and to communicate with her human friends in that way.
I love the pix I was able to get at the zoo of our gorillas. Their facial expressions are so similar to ours. The orangutans are truly the most gentle of the apes. Their eyes and their lips look like they could talk with you. I cannot imagine how people could kill these apes for profit or for bush meat.
Love, Denise
No Garrett,
The idea that a gorilla in morning over the death of its baby is something that proves a genetic link to humans is silly. That would not hold up in any high school debate class. You know better than that.
I have seen dogs mourn the death of another dog among other animals that do the same thing.
Also to believe in evolutions at least Darwins theory you would also need to take on his belief of a superior race as Hitler and others have done.
Do you go there as well?
Mike Faulkner
Ya of course this picture doesn't "prove" a genetic link between humans and mountain gorillas.....but it has been proven that we are a very close DNA Match....it has also been proven that fossils exist that confirm this.
Darwin was not a "racist" but even if he was, how does that invalidate his discovery? People other than Darwin have used "social darwinism" (something that Darwin was hardly involved in, they just took his name) as well as "eugenics" which was the standard in the early 1900's and Hitler used this, he used the bible as well, to justify the killing of Jews. Here is one quote from Hitler, "My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter" He did not but he certainly could have used the bible to advocate murdering homosexuals...see Leviticus
Do you go along with Hitler on his using the bible?
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